Ford Motor Company has made a series of executive appointments, including the following:

Bruce Blythe is the company's first chief strategy officer – returning to the company he left in 1993 when he was vice-president, business strategy for Ford Europe. In his new role, he will report to Bill Ford, chairman and CEO.

Lewis Booth, president and COO of Ford Europe is elected a group vice president. Francis Codina is also made vice president, while other new group vice presidents include Joe Laymon (corporate human resources) and Phil Martens, (product creation, North America). John Parker, executive vice president at Mazda, is made a Ford company vice president.

Mark Schulz is appointed group vice president, Ford Asia-Pacific, and Anne Stevens as group vice president for Canada, Mexico and S. American operations.

"The Board's actions today underscore the confidence we have in the executive leadership team of Ford Motor Company," said Bill Ford. "This team continues to deliver significant progress on our Revitalization Plan, even as it takes on our industry's toughest challenges. That is what distinguishes them as leaders and makes them so valuable to the company."