Ford Motor said today it’s forming a new subsidiary, Ford Smart Mobility LLC, based in Palo Alto, Calif., and said one of its directors, former Steelcase chief executive James Hackett, would step down from the board to lead the group.
Putting a furniture executive in charge of mobility might seem like an oxymoron, but Hackett is recognized as an innovator in office space who helped change the way people work. During his 30 years at Steelcase, he helped transform the company from a traditional office furniture manufacturer to a designer of cutting-edge workspaces, shifting away from cubicles, for example, to an open space environment, giving employees the flexibility to work where they want.