Dearborn, Mich., USA - Ford Motor Company announced changes in its senior leadership team.
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John Felice, vice president, U.S. Marketing, Sales and Service, has elected to retire after 30 years at Ford, effective February 1, 2015.
Mr. Felice is vice president, U.S. Marketing, Sales and Service, effective November 1, 2013.
Prior to this role, Mr. Felice served as general manager, Ford Lincoln Sales, a position to which he was appointed in November 2011.
He served as general manager, Ford Lincoln Marketing, from December 2007 until October 2011.
Prior to that, he was director, North American Fleet, Lease and Remarketing Operations.
Mr. Felice served as president of Ford Thailand Operations and as a member of the Board of Directors of AutoAlliance (Thailand) Co. Ltd., where he was the primary Ford interface for the joint venture.
He also served as the executive director, Marketing, Sales and Service, Ford Asia Pacific Africa, where he was responsible for all marketing, sales and service initiatives for the Asia Pacific Africa markets – Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Philippines, Taiwan, China, India, Japan, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.
He served on numerous boards in the region, including Ford Japan Ltd., Ford Japan Dealer Ltd., ACSG (Thailand) Co. Ltd., Ford Sales Thailand Co. Ltd. and Ford India Co. Ltd.
Mr. Felice joined Ford in April 1984. During his tenure at Ford, he has served in various management positions in the Sales and Marketing organization, including market research, franchising, advertising, product planning, programming and direct dealer interface in several sales and marketing roles.
He earned a bachelor’s degree in computer science from Oakland University and a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Michigan Dearborn.
He currently serves as a board member of FordDirect.
Succeeding Mr. Felice is Mark LaNeve, currently chief operating officer at Global Team Ford, the global advertising and marketing agency for Ford Motor Company.
Mr. LaNeve is vice president, U.S. Marketing, Sales and Service, a position he was named to in February 2015.
In his new role, Mr. LaNeve is responsible for all marketing, sales, service, customer care and dealer relations for the Ford and Lincoln brands.
Mr. LaNeve came to Ford after several years leading the company’s marketing and advertising agency, Global Team Ford, where he was chief operating officer since August, 2012.
In this role, he led not only Team Detroit, which services the Ford brand in the U.S., but also the agency’s operations in London, Sao Paulo and Shanghai, as well as Hudson Rouge, the Lincoln agency in New York City.
Prior to joining Team Detroit, Mr. LaNeve was senior executive vice president and chief marketing officer at Allstate Insurance in Chicago, a position he was named in October 2009.
While at Allstate, he launched the widely acclaimed and award winning Mayhem campaign.
He has nearly three decades of global sales and marketing experience in the automotive industry, having held a number of leadership roles at General Motors and Volvo Cars of N.A.
Mr. LaNeve began his career in the Los Angles zone office for the Cadillac Division of GM in 1981.
After a series of sales and marketing positions, he was named Marketing Director of Cadillac in 1994.
Following a brief stint at Pontiac, he left GM to become CEO of Volvo Cars of N.A. At Volvo, he helped lead a resurgence of the brand into the premium space of the U.S. market and was heavily involved in the integration of Volvo with Ford, which purchased the brand in 1999.
Mr. LaNeve returned to GM in 2001 when he was named general manager of the Cadillac brand that was preparing for a product renaissance and was named “Grand Marketer of the Year†by Brandweek magazine in 2003 for his work.
He later was named GM vice president, sales, service and marketing in 2005, leading that organization through one of the most tumultuous and difficult periods in U.S. automotive history.
Always known as a “dealer guyâ€, Mr. LaNeve’s team launched a number of innovative sales programs including the successful “Employee Pricing for Everyone†campaign. ■