Ford has appointed Lewis Booth president and chief operating officer of Ford Europe and John Parker executive vice president and assistant to new Mazda president, Hisakazu Imaki.
Ford has appointed Lewis Booth president and chief operating officer of Ford Europe and John Parker executive vice president and assistant to new Mazda president, Hisakazu Imaki.
Mazda’s Board of Directors recently elected Imaki as its president and chief executive officer. Both Booth and Parker have been involved with the Ford brand in South Africa before and their appointments are effective immediately.
Booth, Mazda’s outgoing president and chief executive officer, 54, succeeds Martin Leach, who resigned from Ford earlier this month. Booth will report to David Thursfield, Ford’s executive vice president of international operations and global purchasing.
Booth first joined Mazda in 2002 as senior advisor of corporate strategy. Before then, he was president Asia Pacific and Africa Operations, a position he held from January 2002. He also worked in South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and India and for developing Ford’s strategy in the Asia-Pacific region.
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.
Parker began his duties as president of Ford’s ASEAN Operations in December 2001. He 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 of 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.