Ex-Ford CEO Alan Mulally Is Now A Member Of The Google Board | TechTree.com

Ex-Ford CEO Alan Mulally Is Now A Member Of The Google Board

Mullaly has enjoyed two successful stints at Ford and Boeing, the perfect man for when you're building self-driving cars and drones.

 

Tech giant Google has just announced the appointment of Alan Mulally, Former CEO at Ford Motor Co, to its Board of Directors. A few months ago Mulally was one among the rumoured prime contenders for the top spot at Microsoft, which eventually was filled by Satya Nadella.

Mulally will serve on Google's audit committee and the company added that his appointment was effective as of July 9, just nine days after stepping down at Ford. He has become the 11th member of Google's Board and is the first member to be added to the group since 2005.

Serving two successful stints at Boeing and Ford, Mulally even led the struggling automaker through the US financial crisis of 2008-09. Considered to be on Microsoft's shortlist to replace Steve Balmer, he publicly announced that he wasn't going to take the job at the Redmond and would stay on with Ford through 2014.

Obviously something made Mulally change his mind about staying on at Ford, and according to a WSJ report he was interested in leading a company like Google as early as 2012. Another unnamed person close to the development said Google CEO Lary Page became interested in getting to know Alan Mulally after reading his book "American Icon".

Mulally's appointment by Google comes at a time when the company is spearheading its self-driving car project.

"As Google's car project progresses, the company needs a mixture of their existing culture of moving quickly and disrupting things and a more incremental approach to address safety and other challenges faced in the auto industry," said Bob Denaro, a consultant in intelligent transport systems, according to the WSJ report.

The other point that sticks out is that Google is trying to get its Android mobile OS into vehicles, serving as a hub of communication, entertainment and productivity. Having one of the most highly respected members in the automotive community on their board will surely help Google achieve those goals.

Google has also recently forayed into the world of aviation, with plans to use drones and balloons to beam the Internet to the farthest reaches of the world. Again, Alan Mulally's experience with Boeing comes to mind.


TAGS: Alan Mulally, Google, Microsoft, Ford, Boeing, drones, self-driving vehicles

 
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