Donald E. Petersen joined Ford in 1949 after receiving his MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Prior to his election as chairman, Petersen was President and COO from March 13, 1980. He was a member of the board of directors from September 8, 1977 until his retirement in February 1990. Donald E. Petersen became chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Ford Motor Company on February 1, 1985. Hailed a "Most Valuable Person" of 1988 by USA Today and "CEO of the Year" by Chief Executive magazine in 1989, Petersen transformed Ford with his inclusive, team-oriented management style. Petersen was famously known for instructing the Ford design staff to design vehicles they would be proud to buy and park in their own driveways. Ford Vice President of Design Jack Telnack of the 1980 Thunderbird: "is this what you would want in your driveway?". The negative response by Telnack prompted the company to request the Thunderbird be restyled completely. This watershed event culminated in the redesign of the ninth-generation Thunderbird marks the introduction of highly aerodynamic body design to Ford vehicles in North America, followed by similarly designed model lines, including the 1984 Ford Mustang SVO, 1984 Ford Tempo, 1986 Ford Aerostar, and 1986 Ford Taurus. The redesign of the Thunderbird became a groundbreaking and wildly successful design which pulled Ford out of its financial doldrums of the early 1980s and provided the motivation and profit which carried Ford for the next decade.
Later Years at Ford (1987–1990)
Petersen's relationship with members of the founding Ford family became strained after he opposed the nomination of founder Henry Ford's great-grandsons, Edsel Bryant Ford II and William Clay Ford Jr. to certain committees of the board of Ford in the wake of the death of family patriarch and former Ford chairman & CEO Henry Ford II in 1987. Petersen's primary motivation was to permit more time to pass before a decision was made concerning the futures of the two young Fords. The widening of this schism later cut short Petersen's tenure at Ford, after a high-profile and public disagreement spilled over into the press regarding differences in strategic direction between Petersen and the members of the Ford family. These differences were largely due to Petersen's purchase of the bankrupt Jaguar Cars company after a bidding war between Ford and General Motors. In this case, the press did not have the story straight, as Petersen had indicated his plan to retire, before the decision was made to acquire Jaguar. In the years since, Ford contributed major managerial resources to and several times recapitalized Jaguar with no subsequent return of investment. Ford eventually divested itself of the Jaguar asset on June 2, 2008. Today, Jaguar is quite profitable. He was succeeded by Harold "Red" Poling.
