Bradley M. Gayton is general counsel and vice president, Ford Motor Company, effective Jan. 1, 2016. At the same time, he also is elected a Ford Motor Company officer.

In this role, Gayton leads the company's litigation, tax, corporate and intellectual property efforts. He also advises the company's board of directors and senior management on a wide range of legal issues, and oversees its General Auditor's Office.

Previously, Gayton was corporate secretary and assistant general counsel, a position to which he was named to in April 2012.

In this role, Gayton had direct responsibility as secretary to the Board of Directors and for related governance and legal matters. He had legal responsibility for NYSE and SEC compliance and reporting, including annual and quarterly reporting, proxy statement and registration statements, as well as legal responsibility for supporting Ford's Treasury operations in capital markets and debt financing transactions. In this role, he also led a team dedicated to providing legal counsel on privacy and data protection matters, including cross-border data transfers and data usage, and provided administrative oversight of Ford's global compliance function. Gayton served as assistant general counsel and assistant corporate secretary since January 2011.

Gayton joined Ford's Office of General Counsel in 1991. He has held positions of increasing responsibility within the Office of General Counsel including serving as director of Legal Affairs - Canada, Mexico and South America with responsibility for managing all aspects of Ford's legal matters related to regional manufacturing, sales and service, and distribution activities. He also served as Assistant Tax Officer with responsibility for U.S. federal and state compliance, analysis, transfer pricing, and all aspects of global indirect taxes including litigation.

Born in April 1963, Gayton holds a bachelor's degree in business and a law degree from the State University of New York at Buffalo.

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