Elena Anne Ford-Niarchos (born May 25, 1966) is an American-Greek businesswoman. She is the Chief

Customer Experience Customer experience (CX) is a totality of cognitive, affective, sensory, and behavioral consumer responses during all stages of the consumption process including pre-purchase, consumption, and post-purchase stages. Pine and Gilmore described th ...

Officer at

Ford Motor Company Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. The company sells automobi ...

and the first female Ford family member to hold an executive position at the company.

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...

Elena Ford is first woman Ford family member to hold a significant position at the automaker.
February 15, 2013. Retrieved February 24, 2013.

Career

Ford worked in advertising as a senior account executive at Wells, Rich Greene Advertising in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. In 1995, she joined Ford Motor Company as a marketing executive. She was later named the company's director of

global marketing Global marketing is defined as “marketing on a worldwide scale reconciling or taking global operational differences, similarities and opportunities in order to reach global objectives". Global marketing is also a field of study in general busin ...

and was responsible for marketing, product management, and sales support activities. During this time, she marketed the company's development into mobility services. In 2012, Elena was assigned to lead the global Dealer and Consumer Experience group. She was responsible for standardizing the way dealerships interact with customers around the world and oversaw global dealer strategy, planning, training and consumer experience. In 2013, Elena became Vice President, Customer Experience and Global Dealer, making her one of thirty-eight officers running the company and the first female Ford family member to hold an executive leadership position."Elana Ford is named VP of automaker", Detroit Free Press, February 15, 2012, page 12A In October 2018, Elena Ford was announced as the company's first Chief

Officer. In this role, she leads the organization in creating a world-class customer experience for all Ford customers. In 2019, she spearheaded the launch of a 500-person call center in Houston, TX, providing support for Ford truck owners and dealers experiencing technical issues. She also launched Ford’s “Own the Call” initiative.

Life

Elena Anne Ford-Niarchos was born in

to Charlotte Ford and

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

shipping magnate

Stavros Niarchos Stavros Spyrou Niarchos ( el, Σταύρος Σπύρου Νιάρχος, ; 3 July 1909 – 15 April 1996) was a Greek billionaire shipping tycoon. Starting in 1952, he had the world's biggest supertankers built for his fleet. Propelled by both ...

. After her parents divorced in 1967, Elena's mother married J. Anthony Forstmann in 1973 and later Edward Downe Jr., the founder and chairman of

Downe Communications Downe Communications was a publishing company founded by Edward Downe, Jr. that produced several popular magazines and provided subscription fulfillment services from 1967 to 1978. Downe was a trained journalist who worked at newspapers before bec ...

in 1986. Elena is the great-great-granddaughter of company founder

Henry Ford Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was an American industrialist, business magnate, founder of the Ford Motor Company, and chief developer of the assembly line technique of mass production. By creating the first automobile that ...

, and granddaughter of longtime Ford Motor Company president

Henry Ford II Henry Ford II (September 4, 1917 – September 29, 1987), sometimes known as "Hank the Deuce", was an American businessman in the automotive industry. He was the oldest son of Edsel Ford I and oldest grandson of Henry Ford I. He was president ...

. Elena was close to her maternal grandfather, Henry Ford II, once referring to him as her best friend. Henry taught Elena to drive a stick shift in his F-100 Ford pick-up truck insisting she learned to drive a manual and not an automatic. Ford received a bachelor's degree in business from

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, th ...

. In 1991, she married Stanley Jozef Olender, the owner of Stanley O's, an estate maintenance service in

Southampton, New York Southampton, officially the Town of Southampton, is a town in southeastern Suffolk County, New York, partly on the South Fork of Long Island. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the town had a population of 69,036. Southampton is included in the stret ...

. In 1996, she divorced Olender and married Joseph Daniel Rippolone. In 2008, Ford and Rippolone divorced by mutual agreement. In 1997 Ford and her half-siblings were involved in a dispute regarding their father’s estate. A Greek court ruled that Ford and her siblings had no right to her father's inheritance due to Greek law. In 2011, Ford pleaded guilty to driving under the influence and child endangerment, and was sentenced to two years' probation.

References

External links

Ford Executive's Management Style Matches Strengths: 'You Can't Put All Like-Minded People Together'
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ford, Elena 1966 births Living people Ford executives Henry Ford family Businesspeople from New York City People from Birmingham, Michigan American people of Greek descent Niarchos family

Career

Life

See also

References

External links