Page 1 of 10
Many market observers and industry analysts seemed genuinely shocked late last month when Ford Motor Co. reported net annual income of $2.7 billion. An American automaker in the black — for 2009? Such an occurrence hardly seemed likely given that it was just over a year ago, in November 2008, that the chief executives of the nation’s Big Three automakers — Chrysler, General Motors Corp. and Ford — were summoned to Capitol Hill to justify their request for a $50 billion lifeline.
[Click here to view the rankings for the 2010 All-America Executive Team]
That request sparked populist anger, coming as it did on the heels of Wall Street’s initial $700 billion bailout, and the anger exploded into outrage when taxpayers learned that the CEOs had flown to Washington in separate private jets to plead for public assistance. The move only seemed to underscore the widespread perception of the auto industry as a culture of profligate spenders with an unbridled sense of entitlement; they could adapt or die.
Chrysler and GM eventually received federal funds, though much less than originally requested and with government demands that they restructure their operations and increase efficiency — and both companies filed for bankruptcy protection just a few months later.
But Ford was different. Chief executive Alan Mulally flew to Washington not to ask for money, but as a show of solidarity with his peers and to secure a government-backed line of credit, should his company suffer collateral damage from the collapse of Chrysler, GM or both. Mulally was so confident that Ford would ride out the recession that he agreed to have his base salary slashed from $2 million a year to just one dollar if his company ever took a government loan.
His confidence was based in part on the fact that the sort of restructuring and improvements in operational efficiency that the government was demanding of Chrysler and GM in 2008, Mulally had initiated at Ford upon becoming CEO two years earlier. His vision, his willingness to make tough decisions and his ability to push through reforms helped strengthen the Dearborn, Michigan–based automaker’s financial position long before the U.S. economy tumbled into recession. These qualities also make him a favorite of both buy- and sell-side analysts, who name Mulally the Best CEO in the Autos & Auto Parts sector on the 2010 All-America Executive Team, Institutional Investor’s exclusive ranking of the nation’s best CEOs, CFOs, investor relations professionals and IR companies. Top-ranked executives and companies in each industry sector can be found in the tables on pages 54, 55, 85 and 87. More-detailed information can be found on our Web site, iimagazine.com.
Overseeing a public company is a daunting task in the best of times; in a recession the challenges are multiplied and magnified — and in this recession corporate chieftains find themselves confronted on all sides by skepticism, anger and distrust unlike anything they’ve ever encountered before.
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10
