Alan Mullaly’s retirement looks like far from over. Former Ford Motor (F, Financial) chief executive took retirement from the second largest American automaker on July 1, only to get appointed to serve Google (GOOG, Financial). The veteran has been appointed by the search engine giant as one of the members in the board of directors. Mullaly has worked across various industries – aviation, automotive, and now the broad base of technology. Before getting appointed in 2006 by Ford, he was a key personnel in the lead aerospace major Boeing (BA, Financial), working as the chief executive of the Chicago-based company’s Commercial Airplanes division.
Delivering Google’s “Compelling Vision”
Mullaly’s appointment in the company became effective from July 9, and he would be working in the Mountain View based company’s Audit Committee. Google’s chief executive Larry Page feels that Mullaly will prove extremely beneficial for the company, given the industry wide experience, and leadership skills that he carries.
Starting March 2001 through September 2006 Mullaly was President and CEO of Boeing’s Commercial division and the aircraft maker’s Executive Vice President. Before this he was working with Boeing’s space and defense segment as the President. The executive has had a rich history, and all this is going to count a lot in his present iconic role.
Regarding working for Google, Mullaly says that he feels extremely honored to be part of the tech major in one of the blog posts. Expressing his delight he said, “I look forward to working together with the Google board and management team to continue to deliver their compelling vision.” He would be holding the same position as Ann Mather, Eric Schmidt, Diane Greene, John Doerr, John Hennessy, Paul Otellini, Ram Shriram, and Shirley Tilghman have in the company’s board.
What is the Primary Purpose of Taking Mullaly Onboard?
If we delve a bit deep, we see that Mullaly’s appointment to Google comes days after the company announced its plan for developing the driverless car. The selection of the veteran, from the automotive industry, makes a lot of sense for the tech behemoth at this juncture. Google’s endeavor to design the driverless car by incorporating utmost safety with little human intervention will get a big boost from Mullaly’s past experience.
The executive’s Detroit connection and expertise in the field of cars is going to be priceless for Google future plans. For long the company’s been trying to work out some alliance with automakers and convince them to integrate Android and Auto Link systems into their cars. But nothing concrete has worked out.
What do the Experts Say?
Industry analysts consider this move to be of great advantage to Google. It could help the Internet giant to bring the next wave of growth and drive revenue from fresh ventures in the future. Mullaly is a big name, which carries immense value add to the company, considering his unparalleled experience and industry knowhow.
A senior analyst of Kelley Blue Book said several things in praise of Mullaly – “he can provide Google with guidance across multiple verticals.” This is not the end. He hails the man as “an engineer’s engineer.”
Looking Ahead
The move spells that Google’s on its way to achieve something really big. With Mullaly onboard, the company’s got another champion to trigger new moves and directions that can take it to never-seen-before levels. Mullaly is known for keeping Ford afloat even in the hard days of recession, when every other auto company gave in to bankruptcy and survived due to government bailout. This speaks a lot about his caliber. It’s going to be exciting times ahead for Google. Can’t wait to watch what changes would be brought about by this industry veteran.
