Bill Ford's son, Will, is latest family member to join automaker: What he's doing

William Clay "Will" Ford III confessed that he has a passion for speed.

The former Princeton University ice hockey player, who took a year between high school and college to stay with a family in the Upper Peninsula so he could play junior hockey in Marquette, is likely to be found mountain biking or downhill skiing in his spare time — in northern Michigan or Telluride, Colorado.

"I need the adrenaline," Ford told the Detroit Free Press, while also professing a love of fly fishing. "I need activities to take me fast."

So, it's no surprise that, by day, he is most likely at the track. At age 32, the son of executive chair William Clay "Bill" Ford Jr. is the general manager of Ford Performance. He has been on the job since September, reporting to Mark Rushbrook, global director of Ford Performance. That's the side of the company that oversees all racing operations and events such as the Detroit Grand Prix, 24 Hours of Le Mans in France and the two-week Dakar Rally through the desert of Saudi Arabia. And soon, Ford will reenter Formula 1.

"I'm officially on the inside now," Will Ford said. "There's a natural connection to something much larger than just myself. There's no coming to Ford every day to work and going through the motions and feeling uninspired. Everything we do as a company, I feel connected to. My mind is always racing. I really do believe our future is brighter than the past. This is a massive opportunity for our business, and our brand."

Will Ford, the great-great grandson of founder Henry Ford, met with his father and CEO Jim Farley before taking the role. He wanted to be certain the fit was right, and his vision dovetailed with where the company wanted to go. After studying history at Princeton, he went on to earn an MBA at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. (Bill Ford earned degrees from Princeton and MIT, too. He played rugby in college, not hockey.)

Bill Ford has always said that he never wanted to pressure his kids to work at Ford Motor Co., the 121-year-old automaker credited with introducing the $5 workday for factory workers. Instead, he told the Free Press, he wanted his children to be inspired to bring passion to the company and understand the work is hard and the legacy is significant.

"We're not doing anything we're doing at Ford Performance for nostalgia," Will Ford said. "This is an indication of where we're going in the future."

A brother joins his sister as their father looks on

Alexandra Ford English, Will's older sister, was elected to the company's board of directors in May 2021. She serves on the finance committee and the sustainability, innovation and policy committee, according to the company website. English worked for the company from 2017-22 in various roles, ranging from corporate strategy global brand merchandizing director. English previously managed profit and loss operations for merchandising divisions of Tory Burch in New York and Gap Inc. in San Francisco.

"My siblings and I are extremely close. We talk all the time," Will Ford said. "My sister Alexandra is very involved with her role on the board. We're talking on almost a daily basis. And my brother, Nick, is graduating from business school. He's at Harvard, earning an MBA. My oldest sister, Ellie, is a psychologist. She went a different route. Having a psychologist in the family can be quite helpful."

English has a son and daughter who spend much of their time with their grandfather, Bill Ford. And Ellie has a daughter, too. Her family is in Southern California.

"Alexandra's son — you can rev an engine and he can identify the car," Will Ford said. "He's a 3-year-old gearhead. He will sit there and grill me on which Bronco was at the Baja race this year, and which car we're taking to the Dakar Rally."

Loading his nephew up with racing stickers and a toy model car signed by NASCAR champion Ryan Blaney was an easy uncle win, Will Ford said.

Seeing what it means to the world

Will Ford, who worked as an analyst in venture capital immediately prior to joining the automaker, said he held different roles so he would be prepared to bring new ideas and approaches to the company. His father, while hands off prior to his kids joining the company, is always available to them.

"We're pretty much texting or calling each other throughout most days," Will Ford said. "Sometimes it's something specific I'm working on, sometimes high level or father-son nonsense."

The only time Will Ford remembers seeing tears in his father's eyes was in 2016, when Ford won its class at the famous 24-hour endurance race at Le Mans, France — 50 years after Ford's first victory there.

"It was one of the most amazing moments of my life," Will Ford said. "There have been a few moments throughout my life that hit me hard, things Ford has accomplished and what it means to the world. To be there with my dad when it happened ..."

Back to the future: A 1901 track win launched the company

So the importance of playing a key role in Ford Performance is not lost on Will Ford. Not only is Farley, the CEO, a competitive race car driver, but founder Henry Ford launched his company with investor dollars earned after he won confidence following a racing challenge at the Grosse Pointe Race Track.

As autos came onto the scene but were regarded as novelties, "Henry Ford wished to transform this situation by mass-producing practical, reliable and affordable cars accessible to everyone. He felt that someone should move the fledgling yet quickly growing automotive industry in this direction and wanted to be the one to do it," says a Ford Motor Co. webpage devoted to company history. "Ford could not, however, attract investors to pursue his vision of the mass-market car. He was not yet well-known outside of Detroit, and his first venture in car manufacturing, the Detroit Automobile Company, had dissolved in 1900."

This is when Henry Ford turned to racing, which generated great press and public enthusiasm. It's where companies and their engineers demonstrated superiority, then and now.

"As Ford himself put it, 'I never thought anything of racing, but the public refused to consider the automobile in any light other than a fast toy,' " the Ford history page said. So Henry Ford, a little-known engineer, challenged an experienced racer in 1901, and won. His vehicle featured handmade porcelain insulated spark coils (a forerunner to the spark plug), and achieved 72 mph over a half mile, beating the existing world record of 65.79 mph. Meanwhile, the competitor's vehicle started to billow smoke.

The 10-lap race led to funding for the Ford Motor Co., founded in 1903.

Now Ford is back at racing, and spotlighting its engineering in the public eye.

"It's been really great to, finally, formally be on the inside," Will Ford said. "In some ways, it feels like two weeks and in some ways it feels like two years. I had thought about joining the company. It's been kind of an open conversation with my dad for quite a long time. This felt like the right, natural moment."

Motorsports, in some ways, are siloed from the core automotive business, he said. Growing the brand, growing the business around motorsports and making a commitment to competing in more racing series around the world than any other company are driving forces for Will Ford now.

The Raptor products that include the Bronco, Ranger and F-150 exist because the off-road competitions "beat the heck" out of trucks and SUVs and these stress tests lead to better engineering, Will Ford said. "When I look at the racing world from a Ford perspective, the Mustang is at a really pivotal moment. It's been an iconic American muscle car for decades. We have an opportunity to turn it into a global sports car icon. The world is dominated by Porsche and Ferrari, and we have an opportunity to make that world much more approachable."

In the end, explained Ford and Farley, the racing experience translates to profits for an automaker who learns engineering lessons on the track, as it always has.

Mustang, F-150 and Bronco Raptors borne of endurance tests

Products and the driving experience risk becoming "commoditized and sterile," Will Ford said. "By doubling down on our motorsport commitment, taking products people have loved for decades and putting them through the hardest tests in the world. ... There's very much a passion and making sure we continue to infuse that into our products. At the end of the day, when we win (races), our customer wins. When we push ourselves in the hardest environments in the world, all of those learnings ultimately find their way back into the Mustang, the F-150 and Bronco."

The push into racing is not because Jim Farley loves racing, Will Ford said. It is because the company is returning to its roots. "This helps make our products better."

He said, "I'm more motivated than I've ever been in my career. I've liked all my past jobs. But having the family connection there motivating me, day to day, is not just a cliche. I'm part of something a lot bigger than myself. Our family history, I'm really proud of it. The future is exciting. This is a pivotal moment for the company."

Rushbrook, a career engineer at Ford, said a year ago, after announcing its deal with Formula 1 and the Oracle Red Bull team, "The engineering processes that we use for developing road cars are very similar to the engineering processes we use for developing race cars."

Technology is tested in driving simulators. "How does the vehicle respond to steering, acceleration, braking inputs? We have graphics files. So, we have, sitting in that technical center in North Carolina, we can virtually, through the computer, drive around a representation of our proving grounds" in Dearborn or Belgium or Arizona. Or roads in Connecticut or racetracks at Daytona or Le Mans.

"Once we prove the technology of the simulator to work in racing, we then show the road car development team how well it works and they now use those same tools ... to develop road cars," Rushbrook said.

'You can't fake it'

Bill Ford, who sat down with the Free Press recently, said he is proud to see his daughter and son directly involved with the company now. And seeing Will so happy has been powerful.

"What makes me happiest is he's doing something he loves," Bill Ford said. "He absolutely loves Ford vehicles. He loves the Performance area. For him, this was a dream job. To see him, you know, working as he is now, seven days a week, long hours. and not only not complaining but just radiant when he talks about his job. ... I'm so happy to see that because you can't fake it."

In his son, Bill Ford sees himself, he said.

"It's one thing my father told me early in life is that you have to love this because, if you don't, you're not going to be doing the company any favors or yourself," Bill Ford said. "Like all young people, like I was, when I joined Ford, you wonder, 'Is this the place for me?' And, so far, I think he's finding that, yes, it is the place for him."

More: How Ford got into prestigious racing series GM is dying to join

Contact Phoebe Wall Howard: 313-618-1034 or phoward@freepress.com. Follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter @phoebesaid. Read more on Ford and sign up for our autos newsletter.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Will Ford is general manager of Ford Performance