Mark Fields Joins TPG Capital

Former Ford Motor Co. CEO Mark Fields is joining TPG Capital, a San Francisco-based private equity firm, on Nov. 1.

Fields, 56, will be a senior adviser to the firm, whose holdings include stakes in Burger King, Ducati, Fender, Neiman Marcus, Petco, Uber and Viking Cruises. TPG says it has invested more than $50 billion since 1993.

In his new role, Fields says he will focus on energizing companies in the industrial sector by helping them to rethink traditional business approaches and processes, such as supply chain management.

Fields joined Ford in 1989. By 2000 he was CEO of Mazda Motor Corp., in which Ford held a 33% stake. He is credited with leading the company through a successful restructuring and product revival.

He became Ford president of the Americas in 2005, chief operating officer in 2012 and CEO in 2014. Fields was pushed out of the company last May, blamed for Ford’s stalled stock price and inability to convince Wall Street it was successfully repositioning itself for an era of electrified, connected and self-driving vehicles.