Following on the heels of General Motors early this year, Ford has named a new CEO, current Chief Operating Officer Mark Fields.
Fields, 53, will succeed Alan Mulally, 68, who has held the position since 2006. Mulally was reportedly on the short list of candidates to become Microsoft's CEO. (Microsoft ultimately went with Satya Nadella, EVP of Microsoft's Cloud and Enterprise group.)
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Mulally steered the company through the tumultuous economic climate following the 2008 crash, a calamity that prompted rival General Motors to declare bankruptcy and receive a federal government bailout. GM, which has faced consumer rancor for massive product recalls early this year, named a new CEO in December, Mary Barra.
Despite the differences in public perception, the stock performances of the two companies are fairly indistinguishable: Ford is up 18% over the last year while GM has risen 13%.