HR Notices From December 7

FordDirect Promotes Two, Hires One: FordDirect, a joint venture between Ford Motor Co. and its franchise dealers, announced today the appointment of two executives -- Ryan Soffa, senior vice president of product development and Fadi Aoude, senior vice president of technology. Ford also named Meri Glade chief compliance officer and general counsel. Aoude and Soffa lead the development of products for Ford and Lincoln dealers such as DealerConnection and DealerConnection Product Customization Service. Soffa leads the product team that develops dealer solutions while Aoude is responsible for all technology at FordDirect to ensure FordDirect products have the best technology infrastructure. Prior to joining FordDirect in 2003, he held various positions in the retail automotive marketplace and at American Dealer Services, a finance and insurance services technology start-up. Soffa holds a bachelor's degree in business administration and automotive marketing from Northwood University. In his more than 11 years with FordDirect, Aoude has been responsible for strategic management and technical guidance for FordDirect's IT operations, as well as program management, business development, and technology and process transformation. Aoude will continue to provide the strategic leadership for the company's technology infrastructure, and oversee applications development, and information security and compliance. Aoude is a graduate of the University of Michigan. Glade joins FordDirect to oversee all legal affairs of the organization and provide counsel to the executive management team and the board of directors. Glade joins FordDirect with more than 22 years of experience, where her practice has focused primarily on corporate, securities, intellectual property, privacy and data-use law. She was most recently general counsel to Pacific Ventures Law Group, providing corporate counsel services to companies in the digital, technology, and manufacturing verticals.FordDirect is a joint venture between Ford Motor Co. and its franchised dealers to create a comprehensive Web presence for dealers and provide digital marketing services that help dealers sell more cars and trucks. FordDirect provides dealers new and pre-owned marketing services, call tracking, lead management solutions, dealer Web sites, search optimization and marketing, database marketing, marketing services for regional dealer advertising groups and other digital services. FordDirect is headquartered in Dearborn. More at www.forddirect.com.