Automotive News - November 9, 2015 - Supplement - 36W

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11/2/2015

11:40 AM

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36W * NOVEMBER 9, 2015

L E A D I N G

W O M E N

MARCY KLEVORN

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Chief Information Officer | Ford Motor Co.
| Dearborn, Mich. | Age: 56 | Education: B.S., business,
University of Michigan

HELEN EMSLEY
Executive Director, Global GMC Design
and User Experience | General Motors
| Detroit | Age: 50 | Education:
Undergraduate degree, textile design,
Birmingham Polytechnic; master's,
transport design, Royal College of Art
in London

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career? Ed Welburn by far. And I'm not just
saying that because he's my boss. When I first
came here, I was a manager in the color and
trim studio. Wayne Cherry brought me here from
Opel. When Ed took over, I was running all of
color and trim, but I wasn't at the director level.
He told me, "I'm going to make you a director."
And he kept his word. Later, when I went to him
with the idea of a global color and trim director,
he gave me that role. Then he put me in the
● What attracted you to the auto industry?
studio.
When I was doing textile design for my
undergraduate, there was a competition in
● What should be done to encourage women
London of all the different textile designs. You
to enter the auto industry? In design, we go to
could pick fashion, home furnishings, whatever.
the high schools. We meet the parents. A lot of
And there was one section that I had not
times parents don't think that going into
thought about, which was doing fabrics for
automotive is a good career choice for women.
transportation. So I designed
And a lot of parents are nervous to
"In design, we
some fabrics for a car and I really
allow their kids to study anything
enjoyed it. Then I found out that
that's art-based. They think they're
go to the high
the Royal College of Art did this
going to end up as starving artists
schools. We
transport-design course, and they
living in Paris. You've got to explain
meet the parents. to them that there are jobs that
took one person a year to do
interiors. So I applied for that and
can earn money.
A lot of times
got it.
● Tell us about your family. My
parents don't
● First automotive job: At GM
whole family is in England. My dad
think that going
Europe, Opel, working in the color
is retired from the railway. I grew
into automotive is up on the railway - we used to go
and trim studio in 1989.
everywhere by train. I am now
a good career
● Big break: Probably when Ed
remarried. My husband, David,
[Welburn, GM global design chief]
choice for
works here at design. He's a
asked me to go into the interior
women."
supervisor in the wood shops. My
studios and put me in charge of
son, Connor, is 13. He's not into art at all. He's
the Corvette interiors and full-size truck
very much into computers. Anything Apple.
interiors. I never thought about doing that
before. It was Ed who had faith in me.
● What's your favorite weekend activity? Just
Everything up until then was always in my
being with my son. We go out for dinner. We go
comfort zone of textile design and color and
to Dave & Buster's. He loves playing all the
trim, which I had always trained to do.
games. We go swimming a lot.
● What is the major challenge you've faced in
● If you could have dinner with anyone, living
your career? When I was asked to do the
or dead, who would it be? You're going to
Corvette interior. That was a big challenge, not
laugh, but ever since I was a kid I've thought he
to screw that one up. And next I got all the fullwas great. Clint Eastwood. My grandparents
size trucks and SUV interiors. I was doing them
used to watch old spaghetti Westerns.
all at the same time. I remember laughing with
● When and where was your last vacation? I
Ed, saying "I'm the newbie, and I've got all of
went in July to Disney World. It was quite good
the money-making projects. Are you sure you
fun. I'm terrified of heights and I had to go on all
don't want to move me to a different group?"
of these rides.
● Who has had the biggest influence on your
- Mike Colias

● What attracted you to the auto industry? I enjoy the complexity of
the auto industry. You have to bring so many things together: design,
manufacturing, sales, financing, with the support teams underneath,
such as IT, that make it all work.
I should mention that I didn't join Ford the first time they asked me.
One reason was that there wasn't anyone who looked like me 31
years ago. It's important that companies have visible role models
for young women to see that it's something they can do.
● First automotive job: I joined Ford in 1983 on the telecom team.
The first thing I did was put together a dialing plan for the company
so you could call anyone in the company with five digits. It was a big
puzzle, a big math problem.
● Big break: In the early 1990s, I went to work at Ford Credit, which
allowed me to be more visible than I might have been at Ford. I kept
getting more responsibility at a time when the division was going
through a big transformation.
● What is the major challenge you've faced in your career? It came
when we went through the Way Forward process in 2007 and 2008.
Ford emerged without going through bankruptcy, but to do that, there
was a lot of hard work involved. We were doing things like
consolidating data centers, leveraging technology for cost savings
and transitioning people out of the company. You can't afford
disruption during those times, and balancing more work with fewer
people while trying to respect the team wasn't easy.
● Who has had the biggest influence on your career? My father. He
was an entrepreneur, and he really had a gift for engaging with
people. He respected everyone no matter their stature within the
company and could get the most out of everyone. I think about that a
lot.
● Tell us about your family. I'm married, and I have a 27-year-old
son who lives in New York City. He's been quite an inspiration.
Visiting him and seeing the way that he and his friends move around
the city, using multiple modes of transportation rather than being
tied to just one vehicle, has been great learning for me to take home
to my team as Ford becomes more of a mobility company instead of
just a car company.
● What's your favorite weekend activity? I'm a work-hard, play-hard
person, and I like being outdoors. In the summer, I go boating,
kayaking and hiking. I like to run. In the winter, I go snowshoeing,
cross-country skiing, downhill skiing.
● Are you able to maintain friendships? My husband was just telling
me last night that I go overboard. It's hard to keep up with everybody
sometimes, having such a busy job and traveling so much. But with
the Internet, it's easier to keep up than ever before. I have a very
close group of friends from college, and in April, we all went on a river
cruise in France.
● Name one thing about yourself that most people don't know. My
husband and I just bought a one-third share of an RV, which would
probably shock most people. I don't think people see me as an
outdoorsy type because I wear a suit every day at work. But we got a
used RV with my brother-in-law.
● If you could have dinner with anyone, living or dead, who would it
be? Joan of Arc. When I was on that trip in France with my college
friends, we went to the town where she lived, and we saw where she
was burned at the stake. For her to be so young and a woman and to
have such influence, with all the sacrifices that she made - I found
it very striking.
● What advice would you give your child? There's this book called
The Four Agreements, and to me, it applies to both work and home.
When my son moved to New York, I gave him that book. When
someone is struggling with something, I often get it out for them. The
agreements are: Be impeccable with your word. Don't take things
personally. Don't make assumptions. And always do your best.
- Gabe Nelson

Automotive News - November 9, 2015 - Supplement

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