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Alan Mulally

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For the English cricketer, see Alan Mullally.

Alan Mulally
Mulally in 2013
Born
Alan Roger Mulally

(1945-08-04) August 4, 1945 (age 79)
Oakland, California, U.S.
Alma mater
Known for
SpouseNicki Mulally
Children5

Alan Roger Mulally (born August 4, 1945) is an American aerospace engineer and manufacturing executive. He served as the CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes from 1998 to 2006, and later as president and chief executive officer of the Ford Motor Company from 2006 to 2014.

He began his career with Boeing as an engineer in 1969 and was largely credited with Boeing's resurgence against Airbus in the mid-2000s.[1] Mulally is also widely credited with turning around Ford during the Great Recession, when American competitors were declared bankrupt and were bailed out by the federal government.[2][3] Mulally's achievements at Ford are chronicled in the book American Icon: Alan Mulally and the Fight to Save Ford Motor Company by Bryce G. Hoffman, published in 2012. On July 15, 2014, he was appointed to the Board of Directors of Google,[4] a position which he had left by 2024.[5]

In 2015, Mulally was inducted into the International Air & Space Hall of Fame at the San Diego Air & Space Museum.[6]

Early life

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Mulally was born in Oakland, California, the son of Lauraine Lizette (Clark) and Charles R. Mulally, who met at a USO dance.[7][8] Mulally grew up in his mother's hometown of Lawrence, Kansas, where he was a member of Plymouth Congregational Church. He considered Rev. Dale Turner "a mentor and an inspiration".[7][9] He used to sit at the front of the church to study the minister's influence on the congregation. Mulally said that he found himself motivated at the age of 17 by president John F. Kennedy's challenge to send a man to the moon.[10]

Education

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Mulally graduated from the University of Kansas,[11] also his mother's alma mater,[7] with Bachelor of Science (1968) and Master of Science (1969) degrees in aeronautical and astronautical engineering. He was also a member of the Kappa Sigma Fraternity.[11] He received a Master's degree in Management (S.M.) as a Sloan Fellow from MIT's Sloan School of Management[12] in 1982.[13]

Career

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Boeing

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Mulally led the design team of the first all-digital flight deck in a commercial aircraft, as seen here in the cockpit of the Boeing 767.

Mulally was hired by Boeing immediately out of college in 1969 as an engineer. He held a number of engineering and program management positions, making contributions to the Boeing 727, 737, 747, 757, 767, and Boeing 777 projects. He led the cockpit design team on the 757/767 project. Its revolutionary design featured the first all-digital flight deck in a commercial aircraft, the second two-man crew for long range aircraft after the Airbus A300, and a common type rating for pilots on two different aircraft. He worked on the 777 program first as director of engineering and, from September 1992, as vice president and general manager.[13]

He was later named as vice president of Engineering for the commercial airplane group. He is known and recognized for elevating Phil Condit's "Working Together" philosophy through and beyond the 777 program. In 1994, Mulally was promoted to senior vice president of Airplane Development and was in charge of all airplane development activities, flight test operations, certification, and government technical liaison. In 1997, Mulally became the president of the Boeing Information, Space & Defense Systems and senior vice president.[14] He held this position until 1998 when he was made president of Boeing Commercial Airplanes; chief executive officer duties were added in 2001.[13]

Following the forced resignations of CEOs Phil Condit in 2003 and Harry Stonecipher in 2005 of parent The Boeing Company, Mulally was considered one of the leading internal candidates for the position.[15] When Mulally was passed over in both instances, questions were raised about whether he would remain with the company.

For Mulally's performance at Boeing, Aviation Week & Space Technology named him as person of the year for 2006.[1]

Ford Motor Company

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Mulally (wearing the red tie) with President George W. Bush at the Kansas City Assembly Plant in Claycomo, Missouri on March 20, 2007, touring Ford's new hybrid cars

"An automobile has about 10,000 moving parts, right? An airplane has two million, and it has to stay up in the air." (on being asked "How are you going to tackle something as complex and unfamiliar as the auto business when we are in such tough financial shape?")

Alan Mulally, 2007[16]

Former Ford CEO Donald Petersen recommended Mulally to Ford, and he was named the president and CEO of Ford Motor Company on September 5, 2006, succeeding Bill Ford, who became executive chairman.[17] Mulally called his Lexus LS430 the 'finest car in the world', just as Ford was about to announce his selection as CEO, making the point that Mulally was not then in a leadership position, though he then faced some criticism and switched to driving Ford models.[18][19] William Clay Ford Jr. had been searching for his successor as Ford CEO for some time, with Daimler AG's Dieter Zetsche and Renault/Nissan Motors's Carlos Ghosn both turning down the offer.

One of Mulally's first decisions at Ford was to bring back the Taurus nameplate. He said that he could not understand why the company previously scrapped the Taurus, which had been one of the company's best sellers until losing ground in the late 1990s.[20]

Mulally took over "The Way Forward" restructuring plan at Ford to turn around its massive losses and declining market share.[21] Mulally's cost-cutting initiatives led to the company's first profitable quarter in two years.[22] Dividends to shareholders were also suspended.[23]

In 2006, Mulally led the effort for Ford to borrow US$23.6 billion by mortgaging all of Ford's assets. Mulally said that he intended to use the money to finance a major overhaul and provide “a cushion to protect for a recession or other unexpected event".[24] At the time, the loan was interpreted as a sign of desperation, but is now widely credited with stabilizing Ford's financial position, compared to crosstown rivals General Motors and Chrysler, both of whom subsequently went bankrupt during the automotive industry crisis of 2008–2009. Ford was the only one of the Detroit Three that did not ask for a government loan.[25] Mulally did testify before the United States Congress in favor of government loans for General Motors and Chrysler, discussing the impact to the economy and to other automobile manufacturers if parts suppliers were to go bankrupt in the light of a GM or Chrysler collapse.[26] In May 2009, Ford chairman William Clay Ford, who hired Mulally, said that "Alan was the right choice [to be CEO], and it gets more right every day".[27]

Mulally and Lula da Silva
Mulally and José Sarney
Mulally in Brazil with former President Lula da Silva (top) and former President of the Senate José Sarney (bottom) in April 2010

In 2007, he presided over the sale of Jaguar Cars and Land Rover to Tata Motors, an Indian car and truck manufacturer. Mulally said he had "no regrets" over the sale, preferring to concentrate on the Ford brand, as then-CEO Jacques Nasser was criticized in 2001 for paying too much attention to new overseas acquisitions while letting the main Ford operations in the U.S. decline. Ford received US$2.3 billion on the sale, considerably below what they paid for it under Nasser and Donald Petersen. However, analysts said that Ford would have gotten much less or might not have found a buyer if they had tried to sell it later in 2008, as Jaguar Land Rover sales subsequently plummeted due to high oil prices in the summer, causing Tata to request a bailout from the British government.[28] Mulally also sold off Aston Martin and Volvo Cars, and reduced Ford's stake in Mazda.[25]

In 2008, amid mounting losses during an economic downturn, Ford announced a proposal on December 2, 2008, to cut Mulally's salary to $1 per year if government loans were received and used by Ford.[29][30] During hearings for government loans to Ford, he and other industry leaders were criticized for flying to Washington, D.C. in corporate jets. During a subsequent meeting, he traveled from Detroit to Washington by a Ford-built hybrid electric vehicle, while selling all but one of the company's corporate jets.[31]

In 2008, Mulally earned a total compensation of $13,565,378, which included a base salary of $2,000,000, stock awards of $1,849,241, and option awards of $8,669,747. His total compensation decreased by 37.4% compared to 2007.[32]

Due to his achievements at Ford, he was included in the 2009 Time 100 list. The entry, written by Steve Ballmer, says, "[Mulally] understands the fundamentals of business success as well as any business leader I know".[33]

In 2011, Mulally was named Person of the Year by the Financial Times ArcelorMittal Boldness in Business Awards.[34] He was also named the 2011 CEO of the Year by Chief Executive magazine.[35] In 2011, Mulally was also honored with an Edison Achievement Award for his commitment to innovation throughout his career.

In 2012, Mulally was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Science by the University of Kansas for his notable contributions to engineering and the transportation industry.[36][37]

On November 1, 2012, Ford announced that Mulally would stay with the company at least through 2014.[38][39] It was reported in September 2013 that Mulally might step down earlier than 2014 as he explored other roles. The board would reportedly be sympathetic to this move.[40] He ultimately retired on July 1, 2014,[41] and succeeded by Mark Fields.

Post-Ford

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On July 9, 2014, he joined the Board of Directors of Google (now Alphabet).[42] Mulally became a senior fellow at Seattle University's Albers School of Business in April 2016.[43]

Mulally was considered for Secretary of State in the first Trump administration but that job went to ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson.[44]

Management style

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Everybody says you can't make money off small cars. Well, you'd better damn well figure out how to make money because that's where the world is going.

Alan Mulally, 2008[27]

Mulally negotiated four new agreements with the United Auto Workers, which brought down labor costs from $76/hour to $55/hour.[27]

He lived within three miles of his office at Ford's global headquarters in Dearborn, Michigan. He had a meeting with Ford's executives, called a "Business Plan Review" (BPR) every Thursday at 7 a.m. in the "Thunderbird Room" at Ford's headquarters.[27] At a "town meeting" of 100 information technology staffers in February 2007, Mulally said, "We have been going out of business for 40 years", and repeated his message to other employee groups.[16]

Self-management

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McKinsey & Company asked Mulally how he maintained his mental and physical stamina, to which he responded: "Everybody always talks about how you need to manage your time. You need to manage your energy as well. You first have to ask, 'What gives me energy?' There can be lots of sources: your family, exercise, your spiritual well-being... In our house, we had a family meeting every week—the family BPR ["Business Plan Review"]—where we reviewed what we needed to do and the support required to get us through the week. It is another kind of process step, and a really important one."[45]

References

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  1. ^ a b Mecham, Michael; Velocci, Anthony L. Jr. (January 1, 2007). "Alan R. Mulally is AW&ST's Person of the Year". Aviation Week & Space Technology. Retrieved June 17, 2019.
  2. ^ Schepp, David (October 25, 2010). "Ford May See Record Third-Quarter Earnings". Daily Finance. Archived from the original on October 28, 2010. Retrieved October 25, 2010.
  3. ^ Mulally, Alan; Rose, Charlie (July 27, 2011). "Alan Mulally-Charlie Rose Interview". Archived from the original on April 11, 2017. Retrieved May 30, 2019.
  4. ^ "Alan Mulally joins Google's board of directors". CNBC. Reuters. July 15, 2014. Archived from the original on July 23, 2014. Retrieved July 15, 2014.
  5. ^ "Board of Directors". Alphabet Investor relations. Alphabet. Retrieved January 15, 2024.
  6. ^ Sprekelmeyer, Linda, editor. These We Honor: The International Aerospace Hall of Fame. Donning Co. Publishers, 2006. ISBN 978-1-57864-397-4.
  7. ^ a b c "Obituaries: Lauraine Lizette Clark Mulally 1920 - 2010". Lawrence Journal-World. August 14, 2010. Archived from the original on October 1, 2010. Retrieved September 27, 2010.
  8. ^ "Resume:Alan Mulally". Bloomberg Businessweek. July 1, 2001. Archived from the original on September 6, 2005. Retrieved September 6, 2006.
  9. ^ Tu, Janet I. (June 7, 2006). "The Rev. Dale Turner dies: "a very gentle guiding hand"". The Seattle Times. Archived from the original on October 27, 2016. Retrieved September 27, 2010.
  10. ^ "Ford's New Top Gun". Bloomberg Businessweek. September 18, 2006. Archived from the original on March 25, 2010. Retrieved September 27, 2010.
  11. ^ a b "Ford CEO, KU Alumnus Named Kappa Sigma Man of the Year". engr.ku.edu. University of Kansas School of Engineering. April 22, 2008. Archived from the original on May 30, 2019. Retrieved May 30, 2019.
  12. ^ "The MIT 150: 150 Ideas, Inventions, and Innovators that Helped Shape Our World". The Boston Globe. May 15, 2011. Archived from the original on May 19, 2011. Retrieved August 8, 2011.
  13. ^ a b c "Executive Biographies: Alan Mulally". Boeing. May 2006. Archived from the original on August 31, 2006. Retrieved September 5, 2006.
  14. ^ Ford Company's Alan Mulally Biography Archived 2007-02-19 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 29 July 2011
  15. ^ Gates, Dominic (March 8, 2005). "With Stonecipher ouster, Boeing faces CEO dilemma". The Seattle Times. Archived from the original on September 14, 2011. Retrieved September 5, 2006 – via seattletimes.nwsource.com.
  16. ^ a b Kiley, David (June 4, 2007). "The New Heat On Ford". Bloomberg Businessweek. Archived from the original on August 18, 2010. Retrieved March 5, 2010.
  17. ^ "Ford names new CEO". CNN Money. September 5, 2006. Archived from the original on September 24, 2006. Retrieved September 5, 2006.
  18. ^ What your CEO drives says a lot Archived September 28, 2011, at the Wayback Machine, USA Today, December 12, 2007. Retrieved on 2008-12-05.
  19. ^ New Ford CEO admits to driving a Lexus LS430 Archived 2008-03-21 at the Wayback Machine, Motor Authority. Retrieved on 2008-12-05.
  20. ^ Ford execs compare Taurus to Homer Simpson, NBC News, January 29, 2008. Retrieved on 2008-12-04.
  21. ^ Wilson, Amy (October 30, 2006). "Way Forward, version 3, is on the way". AutoWeek. Archived from the original on February 15, 2012. Retrieved November 9, 2006.
  22. ^ Krisher, Tom (August 22, 2007). "Ford CEO Mulally Faces New Challenges". The Washington Post. Associated Press. Archived from the original on March 12, 2017. Retrieved August 29, 2007.
  23. ^ "Ford Family's Cash Faucet Goes Dry". Wall Street Journal. September 16, 2006. Archived from the original on March 14, 2016. Retrieved May 30, 2019.
  24. ^ Vlasic, Bill (April 8, 2009). "Choosing Its Own Path, Ford Stayed Independent". The New York Times. Archived from the original on November 9, 2016. Retrieved November 2, 2009.
  25. ^ a b Flint, Jerry (December 16, 2008). "Ford Focus". Forbes. Archived from the original on December 20, 2008. Retrieved December 22, 2008.
  26. ^ "Ford distances itself from bailout proposal". NBC News. Associated Press. December 10, 2008. Archived from the original on July 27, 2014. Retrieved May 8, 2014.
  27. ^ a b c d Taylor III, Alex (May 11, 2009). "Fixing up Ford". Fortune. Archived from the original on August 3, 2010. Retrieved March 5, 2010 – via CNN Money.
  28. ^ Mulally: Ford has no regrets on selling Jaguar, Land Rover Archived March 10, 2017, at the Wayback Machine, EGM Cartech, October 7, 2008. Retrieved on 2008-12-04.
  29. ^ Isidore, Chris (December 2, 2008). "Big Three want more money in bailout". Money. Archived from the original on December 5, 2008. Retrieved December 5, 2008 – via money.cnn.com.
  30. ^ Sly, Randy (December 3, 2008). "Ford CEO Makes $1 Salary Promise". Catholic Online. Archived from the original on October 10, 2012. Retrieved September 16, 2009.
  31. ^ Ford's PR campaign: CEO Alan Mulally drives to hearings (no corporate jet), promises $1 salary Archived February 8, 2009, at the Wayback Machine, New York Daily News, December 2, 2008. Retrieved on 2008-12-04.
  32. ^ "Alan Mulally's Compensation in 2008". The Globe Opinion. Archived from the original on April 11, 2009. Retrieved April 12, 2009.
  33. ^ Ballmer, Steve (April 30, 2009). "The 2009 Time 100: Alan Mulally". Time. Archived from the original on October 18, 2016. Retrieved August 6, 2009.
  34. ^ Alan Mulally: in the driving seat at Ford Archived June 27, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, John Reed, The Financial Times, March 17, 2011
  35. ^ Donlon, J.P. (July–August 2011). "The Road Ahead". Chief Executive (253): 31–33. ISSN 0160-4724. Archived from the original on May 28, 2016. Retrieved February 29, 2012.
  36. ^ "Alumnus to Receive Honorary Doctorate". engr.ku.edu. University of Kansas School of Engineering. December 14, 2011. Archived from the original on May 30, 2019. Retrieved May 30, 2019.
  37. ^ "KU names inaugural honorary degree recipients". KU News. University of Kansas. December 14, 2011. Archived from the original on April 28, 2019. Retrieved May 30, 2019 – via archive.news.ku.edu.
  38. ^ "Ford's Mulally Stays Through 2014, Fields Is COO". The New York Times.
  39. ^ Durbin, Dee-Ann; Krisher, Tom (November 1, 2012). "Ford's Mulally stays through 2014, Fields is COO". Yahoo!. Detroit. Associated Press.
  40. ^ Seetharaman, Deepa; Woodall, Bernie (September 5, 2013). "Ford board open to earlier exit for CEO Mulally". Reuters. Archived from the original on April 28, 2019.
  41. ^ Vlasic, Bill (May 1, 2014). "A Complete U-Turn". The New York Times. Archived from the original on July 3, 2018. Retrieved July 18, 2016.
  42. ^ Winkler, Rolfe; Barr, Alistair; Lublin, Joann S. (July 15, 2014). "Alan Mulally, Former Ford CEO, Joins Google's Board". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on April 28, 2019. Retrieved May 30, 2019 – via www.wsj.com.
  43. ^ "Mulally takes role at Seattle U's business school". The Seattle Times. April 14, 2016. Archived from the original on May 30, 2019. Retrieved May 30, 2019.
  44. ^ Nelson, Louis (December 9, 2016). "Conway: Former Ford CEO Mulally being considered for secretary of state". Politico.
  45. ^ Mulally, Alan; Kirkland, Rik (November 2013). "Leading in the 21st century: An interview with Ford's Alan Mulally - McKinsey". www.mckinsey.com. McKinsey & Company. Archived from the original on April 28, 2019. Retrieved May 30, 2019.
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Alan Mulally.
Business positions
Preceded by Chief executive officer of the Ford Motor Company
2006–2014 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
Ron Woodard
 President/CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes
1998–2006 		Succeeded by
Scott Carson
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