Jim Hackett is chairman of Ford Smart Mobility LLC, a subsidiary of Ford Motor Company, formed to accelerate the company's plans to design, build, grow and invest in emerging mobility services. He was named to the position March 10, 2016.

Ford Smart Mobility LLC is part of Ford's expanded business model to be both an auto and a mobility company. The company is continuing to focus on and investing in its core business - designing, manufacturing, marketing, financing and servicing cars, SUVs, trucks and electrified vehicles. At the same time, Ford aggressively is pursuing emerging opportunities through Ford Smart Mobility, the company's plan to be a leader in connectivity, mobility, autonomous vehicles, the customer experience and data and analytics.

Before joining Ford Smart Mobility LLC, Hackett was a member of the Ford Motor Company Board of Directors starting in 2013. As a member of the Sustainability and Innovation committee, Jim was actively involved with the Ford senior leadership team in the strategies and decisions to launch the company's Ford Smart Mobility plan. He also served on the Audit and the Nominating and Governance committees.

Hackett was vice chairman of Steelcase, the global leader in the office furniture industry, from 2014 to 2015. He retired as CEO of Steelcase in February, 2014 after having spent 20 years leading the Grand Rapids-based office furniture company.

As a consumer-focused visionary in the office furniture industry, Hackett is credited with guiding Steelcase to being a global leader. During his 30 years there, he helped transform the office furniture company from traditional manufacturer to industry innovator. Having spent his career focused on the evolving needs of consumers, Hackett is credited with predicting the office landscape would shift away from cubicles to an open space environment, giving employees the flexibility to work where they want.

Hackett serves on the corporate boards of Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance in Milwaukee, Wisc. and Fifth Third Bancorp in Cincinnati, Ohio. In addition, he is a board member of the National Center for Arts and Technology at the University of Michigan. He also is a member of the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy Committee and the Leadership Council UM Life Science Institute, both at the University of Michigan. He is a past president of the Institute of Design Board of Overseers at the Illinois Institute of Technology.

Hackett was interim director of athletics at the University of Michigan from October 31, 2014 to March 11, 2016 where he led the search for a permanent athletic director appointed in January 2016. As an undergraduate at the University of Michigan, he played center on the football team. He graduated in 1977 from Michigan.

Ford Motor Company issued this content on 11 March 2016 and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 11 March 2016 14:09:29 UTC

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