Ford Motor Company has announced that Lewis Booth has been named president and chief operating officer of Ford Europe and that John Parker has been named executive vice president and assistant to the president at Mazda Motor Corporation. Mazda's Board of Directors has elected Hisakazu Imaki as its president and chief executive officer.

Booth, 54, succeeds Martin Leach, who resigned from Ford earlier this month. Booth will report to David Thursfield, executive vice president, International Operations and Global Purchasing. Booth had been Mazda's president and chief executive officer.

Parker, 55, will succeed Imaki, 60, who was executive vice president and chief engineering and manufacturing officer at Mazda. Previously, Parker was president of Ford's ASEAN Operations, based in Bangkok.

Booth, a Ford Motor Company vice president, joined Mazda in 2002 as senior advisor of corporate strategy. Prior to that appointment, he was president Asia Pacific and Africa Operations, a position he held from January 2002. He had responsibilities for South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and India and for developing Ford's strategy in the Asia-Pacific region.

He joined Ford in 1978 as a financial analysis coordinator with Product Development in Ford Europe, and during the 1980s and early 1990s held a series of management positions in Britain and Germany in Finance, Truck Operations, Product Development, Manufacturing and Sales.

Parker began his duties as president of Ford's ASEAN Operations in December 2001 and is responsible for Ford's operations in Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, the Philippines and Thailand. Prior to this position, Parker was head of Ford Lio Ho in Taiwan for two years.

Parker joined Ford in South Africa in March 1965 and held a number of positions before his initial assignment in Taiwan, where he rose to director, Technical Operations. In 1989, he was assigned to Australia, where he became vice president, Product Development. He also served as president of Ford India from 1994-98.

Ford acquired a 25 percent equity stake in Mazda in 1979 and increased its stake to 33.4 percent in 1996.