Ford Australia names new president

FORD Australia has named Marin Burela as its new president and CEO, effective from October 1, following the shock resignation of Bill Osborne last month.

Described as a Geelong “native”, Mr Burela is currently the Vehicle Line Executive Director for Global Small Car Segment Vehicles, and will return to Broadmeadows, reporting directly to executive vice-president for Asia Pacific and Africa, John Parker.

Mr Burela first joined Ford Motor Company in 1984, when he began his career with the Blue Oval as an engineering graduate of Ford Australia’s graduate program.

He later served in a number of senior management positions, including in manufacturing, sales and marketing, and product development – both in Asia, Europe and North America, as well as at Ford Australia, where he was last based in 1998.

Left: President and CEO, Ford of Australia, Marin Burela.

Apart from filling roles at FoMoCo, Mr Burela held senior management positions at Jaguar and Land Rover, where he was responsible for the group's manufacturing operations and was appointed to the board of Land Rover in 2000. He was also appointed to the board of Jaguar Land Rover in 2002.

Mr Burela joined Ford of Europe in 2004 to lead the development of Ford’s global small-car product portfolio, including the new Fiesta that is currently being rolled out in European markets, before heading to Asia Pacific and African nations.

“Burela’s strong leadership and broad experience within Ford Motor Company will be vital to driving the successful future of Ford Australia’s operations,” said Mr Parker.

“As a Geelong native, his return to Ford Australia allows him to lead not only one of Ford's more strategic global markets, but one for which he has such a strong affinity.”

Meantime, Ford has also announced the appointment of John Sullivan to the position of vehicle line director for global small car segment vehicles, based in Cologne in Germany.

Mr Sullivan is currently the director of product development for Asia Pacific and Africa, and “will lead the ongoing development and success of Ford Fiesta, as well as the future small car programs that are a defining part of Ford’s new global product strategy”, according to Ford.

“John was responsible for establishing our regional APA product development team, and leading, on behalf of the region, the critical collaboration which now takes place across our global product development system,” said Mr Parker.

Prior to his posting in Bangkok, Mr Sullivan was the technical director of international operations for Ford, Jaguar and Volvo at Ford’s Dunton Technical Centre in Dunton, England, as well as being the chief engineer for Ford of Europe between 1998 and 2005.

Mr Sullivan began his career with Ford in 1978 and is a technical expert in the fields of body structure design, vehicle crash systems and analytical engineering systems (CAD/CAE/CAM).

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