Fields May Succeed Ford CEO Mulally in 2014

Ford Motor Co.'s board of directors is likely to promote Mark Fields, president of its America's unit, to chief operating officer when it meets on Thursday, Bloomberg News reports, citing an unidentified source.

The move would make Fields the heir apparent to CEO Alan Mulally, 67, who is expected to retire at the end of 2013, the news service says.

Mulally has thus far declined to indicate publicly when he will step down. Investors have been anxious to know who will succeed the revered CEO, who is credited with rescuing Ford after his arrival in September 2006 from Boeing Co. Fields, 51, has been considered the front-runner for the job.

The new post would give Fields global responsibilities, including aiding Ford's attempt to turn around its ailing European unit. As COO, he would work closely with Mulally on companywide issues before the latter retires. Mulally has never had a COO.

Candidates to replace Fields in the Americas job include his rivals in the CEO succession contest, Joe Hinrichs, head of Asian operations, and Jim Farley, global marketing chief, according to Bloomberg. Hinrichs, who is highly regarded, is six years younger than Fields and could follow him as CEO.

Fields joined the company as marketing manager for the Thunderbird coupe in 1989. By 2000 he was CEO of Mazda Motor Corp. which Ford controlled at the time where he led a successful turnaround. Fields was later named executive vice president of Ford of Europe and CEO of the company's troubled European luxury unit, which consisted of Aston Martin, Jaguar, Land Rover and Volvo.

In 2005, he took charge of Ford's Americas unit as the North American business was going into a tailspin. The company lost more than $33 billion pretax in North America in 2005-2009. Fields heavily restructured the business, including closing several plants and shedding more than 60,000 employees.

In the past two years North American operations have earned $11.6 billion more than two-thirds of Ford's total pretax profit. In the first half of 2012, the unit earned $4.1 billion pretax for an enviable 10.8% operating margin.