• September 21, 2007

Ford Motor Company's long-time marketer Francisco Codina, 55, group vice president, North American marketing sales and service, will retire in November. Ford says it will immediately begin to search for his replacement.

Codina, whose family emigrated from Cuba in 1965, joined the company in 1977. He worked in the Ford Customer Service Division in California for 15 years, reaching the post of service operations manager, where he developed the "Fix it Right" campaign.

In 1995, he was assigned as marketing and customer service director, Ford of Mexico. Codina then transferred to Ford of Argentina in 1998 as the managing director. A year later, he assumed the role of president, Ford of Argentina. He has also been general marketing manager for Ford Division. He was appointed group vice president, Marketing, Sales and Service in January 2006.

The company has been engaged in an aggressive turnaround program under CEO Alan Mulally, who has been in the position for a year. The company this year reduced its salaried payroll by 30% through early retirement.

Says Mark Fields, EVP/president, the Americas, in a company release on Thursday: "Under Cisco's leadership, we began to stabilize our retail market share, energize our dealers, improve the resale value of our vehicles and speak with a more confident tone in our marketing."

Ford saw sales drop 14% in August, and 12.5% year-to-date through August.

--Karl Greenberg