Fields was recruited by Ford in 1989 and moved up the ranks. He ran Ford's Argentina operations at the age of 36. Prior to his arrival, Mazda posted an annual operating loss of over $US100 million. Fields instituted a turnaround plan that saw Mazda post a 2001 operating profit of $215 million by creating a culture of promoting for talent rather than seniority, reducing labor costs and implementing a unified design product vision that led to the company’s "Zoom-Zoom" brand image of the 2000s. All Premiere units other than Jaguar were profitable by 2005. on a record 12% profit margin. In December 2012, Ford appointed Fields its chief operating officer. He was named president and CEO of Ford effective July 1, 2014, succeeding
Alan Mulally. During Fields' tenure at Ford, Fields was credited with replacing a combative senior executive culture with a collaborative one. Former CEO Mullaly recounts a time when Fields took personal responsibility for a failed tailgate latch on an SUV that was delaying the car's launch, in contrast to the rosy projections offered by other senior leaders in the face of serious challenges. In 2016, Ford announced plans to redesign its
Dearborn headquarters into a walkable, "Silicon Valley"-style campus. As CEO, Fields committed $4.5 billion to electrified vehicles, including the electric Mustang Mach-E, In February 2017 Fields drove an investment in
Argo AI, combining Ford’s autonomous vehicle development efforts with Argo AI’s robotics and artificial intelligence expertise. On May 22, 2017, Fields announced his retirement from Ford and was replaced by
James Hackett. Fields became a senior adviser at private equity firm
TPG Capital in October 2017, focusing on the firm's industrial and technology practice. He serves on the Board of Directors of Qualcomm, Tanium, Hertz, and others. In mid-March 2020 he predicted a recession based on the impact of COVID-19 on the global economy and has described the electric vehicle industry as facing a "reckoning." Fields is a regular contributor on CNBC, appearing on programs such as Squawk Box, Money Movers and Last Call. From October 2021 through March 2022, Fields was the interim CEO of
Hertz with a focus on forward looking investments. Fields has also initiated innovative partnerships with Uber and Carvana to expand on Hertz’s reach into the mobility ecosystem. ==References==