Ford Names Former 3M Exec to Head Mobility Unit

Ford Motor Co. has named Rajendra Rao as CEO of its Smart Mobility unit. He will begin his new job on Oct. 10.

Rao formerly was vice president of digital business model innovation at 3M Co. In that role, he developed business models regarding “smart” cities and wearable electronics, including those that monitor health.

He will be based in Palo Alto, Calif., and report to Jim Hackett, who chairs Ford Smart Mobility LLC, the carmaker’s incubator for mobility services. As CEO Rao will help manage such acquisitions as Chariot (crowd-sourced shuttle service), collaborations with such companies as Motivate (bike sharing) and Ford’s own urban mobility solutions through its Greenfield Labs and City Solutions teams.