Dive Brief:

• Ford Motor VP of finance Sherry House will take over as CFO from long-time company veteran and finance chief John Lawler, effective Thursday, the automotive company announced Wednesday in a securities filing and press release.
• The move is part of a planned leadership change the company announced last spring, when House — an alum of electronic vehicle company Lucid Motors — joined Ford as its VP of finance, with plans to assume the CFO role at some point this year, CFO Dive previously reported. Lawler, who has logged a 34-year career with the Dearborn, Michigan-based company, has served as Ford’s CFO since October 2020. He will remain with the company as its vice chair — a position he has held since June as part of the planned executive leadership changes — with “a focus on strategy, partnerships and alliances,” the company said.
• As well as appointing House as its CFO, Ford announced several other leadership changes Wednesday, on the eve of its Q4 2024 and full-year earnings. The company also named Marin Gjaja as its chief strategy officer; Andrew Frick as president, Ford Blue Model e; and Sam Wu took over responsibility for the company’s international markets group alongside his current role as president and CEO for Ford of China, according to the Wednesday press release.

Dive Insight:

In her role as VP of finance, House took on responsibility for financial planning and analysis at the company, as well as overseeing the finance departments for business segments including Ford Blue, Ford Pro, and Ford Model e, Ford said in its Wednesday filing.

Prior to joining Ford in June, House served as CFO for EV firm Lucid Motors. Her past experiences also include a three-year stint at Alphabet’s EV startup Waymo, according to her LinkedIn profile. At the time of her appointment as Ford’s VP of finance, House was slated to receive an annual base salary of $900,000 and a sign-on bonus of $4.2 million, with $1.2 million of that bonus to be paid in cash, according to a company filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission at the time.

Meanwhile, in association with his appointment as vice chair, Ford increased Lawler’s annual target bonus opportunity to 150% of his base salary of $1.2 million, the company said in June. For the full-year 2023, Lawler received total compensation of $10 million, including a $1.1 million base salary, $5.4 million in stock awards, and $1.4 million in non-equity incentive compensation, according to the company’s latest proxy filed in March.

Ford’s compensation committee “did not take any compensation actions with respect to Ms. House in connection with her appointment as Chief Financial Officer,” the company said in its Wednesday filing regarding her appointment as CFO.  

House joined the company as Ford — alongside other automakers — was dealing with murky questions surrounding the future of the EV industry.

Demand for such vehicles has waned in recent years amid rising inflation, causing automakers to rethink their pricing and inventory strategies even before the outcome of the U.S. presidential election in November — when then presidential candidate and now President Donald Trump pledged to end federal support for electric vehicles. In an executive order signed by Trump on his first day in office titled “Unleashing American Energy,” the president detailed new policies, including a bid to “eliminate the ‘electric vehicle (EV) mandate’ and promote true consumer choice, which is essential for economic growth and innovation,” per the order.

That could impact several of the levers EV makers have on hand to boost sales, such as potentially removing a $7,500 tax credit for EV buyers established in 2022, as well as removing federal support for low-interest loans to traditional automakers who cite plans to build EV plants or related EV batteries, CNN reported at the time.

Ford has continued to see headwinds in its EV segment throughout its fiscal 2024. Its Ford Model e segment, the division responsible for EVs, recorded a $1.3 billion EBIT loss for the quarter ended Dec. 31, according to its earnings release reported after the bell Wednesday. This compares to an EBIT loss of $1.2 billion in the segment for the quarter ended Sept. 30, 2024. For the full year, the Model e segment recorded an EBIT loss of $5.1 billion, the company said Wednesday.

Ford did not immediately respond to requests for comment.