Ford’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO), John Lawler and Linda Zhang, Chief Engineer for the company’s All Electric F-150 Lightning participate in the opening bell ceremony at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, New York, U.S., April 28, 2022.
Brendan Mcdermid | Reuters
Ford Motor on Friday named the former chief financial officer of electric vehicle startup Lucid to replace its current CFO, who is being promoted to more closely oversee the company’s ongoing turnaround plan.
The ex-Lucid executive, Sherry House, will join Ford first as finance vice president in early June. She’s set to transition into the CFO role in early 2025, the company said in a press release.
In the meantime, current CFO John Lawler will continue in his position while expanding his role to become vice chair. Lawler has been CFO since October 2020, during which he helped build the company’s Ford+ turnaround plan, aimed at making Ford more efficient and profitable as the company continues to expand current operations and invest billions in electric vehicles.
Ford has faced years of inflated warranty costs, including $1.9 billion in 2023. The company last year said it has a $7 billion to $8 billion annual disadvantage compared to traditional rivals due to production costs, quality issues and other operational inefficiencies.
The move comes as Ford amps up its focus on electric vehicles. The automaker’s U.S. sales jumped 10.5% in February 2024 compared with February 2023, thanks to increases in its all-hybrid and all-electric vehicles sales. The results included an 81% jump in all-electric vehicles.
“Make no mistake, EVs are coming, EVs are part of the future,” Lawler had told CNBC back in February.
Still, the unit is not yet profitable. As part of its 2024 guidance, first released in February, Ford said it expected its EV business to lose between $5 billion and $5.5 billion this year.
House served as CFO at Lucid Motors for nearly three years until last December. Over that time, the company went public, started producing and delivering its luxury EVs, and opened manufacturing plants in the U.S. and Saudi Arabia. She’s also held roles at Alphabet-backed autonomous-driving technology company Waymo and General Motors.
“Sherry adds an important leadership dimension to Ford as we urgently build a profitable EV business, generate new and recurring revenue streams, and create a more dynamic and resilient company,” Ford President and CEO Jim Farley said in the press release.
Ford reorganized its operations back in 2022, splitting EVs and legacy autos into two separate units in a move to streamline the growing EV business and maximize profits.