A Conversation With Bill Ford and Alexandra Ford English

Crain’s Content Studio

• Alexandra Ford English is the first female Ford family member since 1903 to be on the Ford Motor Co. Board of Directors. 
• Bill Ford is the fourth family member in 122 years to lead the company. 
• Ford makes 80% of its vehicles in the U.S.  

Bill Ford’s daughter, Alexandra Ford English, knew early on that getting a position at her dad’s company was not a given. He has several rules that apply to his children, nieces, and nephews.  

“If you want to work at Ford, you must do several things,” he said. “One, you must have a graduate degree from a top university in a relevant topic – so think business, law, engineering. Then you must go work somewhere else for a minimum of five years. And after you’ve done all that, if you still want to come to Ford, then you’ve got to come see me. And it’s still not a guarantee.”  

So, after college, she moved to San Francisco to take a job with Gap and then went to New York to work for Tory Burch.  

“I loved it,” she said. “And not only that, I’m glad that I had a normal corporate company experience. I had failures, I had promotions. And then when I did feel the tug to come work for Ford, I did that first through an MBA internship.”  

At first, she was not sure if a career at Ford was the right path for her. 

“I went to tell him, and his reaction was fantastic and thrilled,” she said, remembering her father’s response. “Now you can figure out what makes you happy and what you want to do. I stood there, and I was frustrated because it would have been so much easier if he had told me, ‘You have to work here.’”

English made the decision to stay, and she could not be happier.

“If I didn’t really want to be here, and I hadn’t had that challenge, it wouldn’t be as fun as it is,” she said.  

For Ford, having his daughter at the company has been a benefit as well.  

“Alexandra, as you might suspect, is pretty direct,” he said. “She’s always the one who will sit me down and tell me what I don’t want to hear. And it’s been great, actually. Not many people in life will do that, and she always has. She’s been the brave one in our family to do that.”  

With the continuous changes surrounding tariffs, Ford said that his company speaks with the White House almost on a daily basis.  

“The hard part for a lot of people in Washington, and this has always been the case, regardless of political party, is to understand that our lead times as an industrial manufacturer are longer than political lead times,” Ford said. “We can adapt to almost anything except uncertainty. And unfortunately, where we are right now is that there’s nothing but uncertainty.”  

At one point, Ford was facing four layers of tariffs.  

“We had the fentanyl tariffs, we had the reciprocal tariffs, we had the auto tariffs, we had the steel and aluminum tariffs,” he said. “And all of them were unintentional, and yet there we were.” 

Ford said he agrees with President Donald Trump’s goal of having a strong American industrial base.  

“We make 80% of our vehicles here,” he said. “Most of our competitors make 50% or less, and it’s cost us over the years. It’s about a $2,000 vehicle penalty vs. our domestic competition because we’ve chosen to be the most American. But I always felt that it was the right thing to do.”

Ford English, who does a lot of work with innovation and EVs, said her retail experience has been an asset when it comes to electric vehicles.  

“If you do right by the customer, you have the strongest shot at success,” she said. “We have served so many different customers over the history of our company, so it’s not our job to tell customers what to buy. It’s our job to make incredible products that they want to buy.”  

She said EVs and hybrids are great products for different people, but the company also needs to continue to make great propulsion vehicles.  

“It’s the right thing, not only because it lends us this flexibility, but it honestly allows the customer to tell us what they want,” she said. “That’s their job, and it’s our job to make great things for them.” 

This 2025 Mackinac Policy Conference session’s recap was crafted in partnership with Crain’s Content Studio.