• CERAWeek
  • March 18 - 22, 2024

William Clay Ford, Jr.

Ford Motor Company

Executive Chairman

Mr. William Clay Ford, Jr., is Executive Chairman, Ford Motor Company. Throughout a career that spans nearly four decades he has emphasized the importance of improving lives and serving society. Bill joined Ford Motor Company in 1979 and held a variety of domestic and international positions. He became a member of the Board of Directors in 1988 and has been its chairman since 1999. In the past decade he helped steer the company through the recession without government aid, while at the same time pushing it to be a leader in technological innovation. A lifelong environmentalist, Bill believes that sustainability is the biggest issue businesses will face now and in the future. In 2000 he led efforts to publish Ford Motor Company’s first sustainability report outlining the economic, environmental and social impact of its products and operations around the world.

In 2009 he became a founding partner of Fontinalis Partners, a Detroit-based investment firm that acts as a strategic operating partner to transportation infrastructure technology companies around the world. In 2011 he gave a TED talk and said that just adding more vehicles was not a sustainable solution, we needed a smart mobility system tying all forms of transportation together in the most efficient way. His vision of the future is for vehicles capable of driving themselves powered by clean, renewable electricity. These smarter, safer, more sustainable vehicles will be integrated into smart public transportation systems to ensure that personal mobility remains viable in an increasingly crowded world. To fulfill this vision, in 2016 the company formed Ford Smart Mobility LLC to accelerate the delivery of a broad suite of products and services that enhance all layers of the transportation system. In 2018, under his leadership, Ford acquired the iconic Michigan Central Station in Detroit which will be transformed to serve as an innovation hub for Ford’s vision for the future and transportation. Bill is a member of the Board of Trustees of The Henry Ford and Chairman of the New Michigan Initiative of Business Leaders for Michigan. He served as Chairman of the Board of the Detroit Economic Club from 2005 to 2017 and on the Board of Directors of eBay Inc., from 2005 to 2015.

Sessions With William Clay Ford, Jr.

Tuesday, 12 March