• by Tanya Gazdik , September 21, 2023

Lincoln has promoted Heidi Shaffer to its top sales and marketing position, replacing Michael Sprague.

As North America director at Lincoln, Shaffer is responsible for marketing, sales and service of Ford’s luxury automotive brand in the United States, Canada and Mexico. 

In this role, she is tasked with building the brand in North America, enhancing retailer relationships and further developing Lincoln’s product portfolio and suite of “effortless” services such as the brand’s pickup and delivery service for auto maintenance at the dealership. 

Shaffer replaces Michael Sprague, who left the automaker several months ago to “pursue something more entrepreneurial,” he tells Marketing Daily. 

Sprague has worked at Ford in three separate stints, the last being for five years, four of which he spent as Lincoln’s North American director. Prior to that he spent one year as director, global brand and integrated marketing. 

Previously, he was at Kia Motors for almost 10 years, rising from executive vice president, marketing and communications to executive vice president, sales and marketing, and finally to chief operating officer. 

In his previous periods at Ford, his roles have included group marketing director for the Lincoln Mercury division and advanced products strategy manager. In between the first two stints at Ford, he was at Mazda Motor Corp. where he served as general manager, global brand marketing. 

Shaffer, whose start date in the new position was June 1, comes to Lincoln from the Ford side of the business. She previously served as the North America sales director for Ford Model e – a newly created position focused on Ford’s electric vehicles. In this role, Shaffer collaborated with marketing, market representation, customer experience, field teams and Ford’s dealer network.

Shaffer started her career with Ford in 1996. She has held multiple regional manager positions within Ford and Lincoln supporting retail marketing and field operations. She spent 23 years working with Ford’s dealer partners and serving as Ford’s Great Lakes general manager.