Ford Credit CEO Set to Retire, Falotico Named as Successor

Ford Motor Credit Co. promoted Chief Operating Officer Joy Falotico to group vice president, chairman, and chief executive, the company announced yesterday. She will replace Bernard Silverstone, who has elected to retire — effective Oct. 1 — after 37 years with the company.

Falotico joined the captive in 1989, and most recently served as COO for Ford Credit and as a vice president for parent Ford Motor Co., where she led the company’s marketing, sales and brand, and business center operations.

No replacement for the COO position will be named, according to Ford Credit spokeswoman Margaret Mellott. “The plan is that Joy will retain some of her current responsibilities in her new role,” she told AFN. “Other elements will be restructured and assumed by various positions within the business.”

In her new role, Falotico will continue the company’s strategies to expand and improve its business in support of the One Ford plan — an innovative business strategy adopted by Ford Motor in 2007, according to the release.

Falotico told AFN in January about some of Ford Credit’s top priorities and emerging opportunities when she was appointed to serve as the company’s COO, including that Ford Credit  is looking at the business through two lenses. “First, focusing on our core business, and second, looking at emerging opportunities,” she said. “We will continue to originate the business the right way, with the focus on our customers and dealers, and really supporting Ford’s growth.”

In terms of emerging opportunities, Ford Credit looks to support Ford Motor “in its transition from an auto company to an auto and mobility company,” she added. “We always look to see what role can Ford Credit play in that, what do our customers tell us? We have had a lot of opportunity to talk about some of our experiments recently.”