Though Beverly Goodman has worked for Ford of Canada for 28 years, she says the automotive industry has changed more since she took over as president and CEO three years ago than in the 25 years prior.
From connected car technology to the transition to an all-electric future, Goodman describes her tenure thus far as both challenging and fun.
“The speed of change that we’ve seen in the last number of years is like nothing any of us have seen before,” she says. “The expectation is that change will continue at this rapid pace, perhaps even more rapid, over the next few years.”
The Montreal native originally considered a career in medicine but changed her mind while earning a bachelor of science from Queen’s University. After a couple of jobs with major banks, Goodman pursued an MBA at McMaster University, thinking it would lead to a career in finance, until the program’s co-op work placement inspired a different path.
“I applied to a couple of banks, but I also applied to Ford, because it was an industry and a company that I frankly didn’t know much about,” Goodman says from the company’s Canadian headquarters in Oakville. “(Because of) the people that I had the opportunity to meet as part of the interviewing process, it just felt like it was the right fit.”
The four-month internship proved to be the start of a now 28-year run with the company, which has included roles in marketing, sales, retail management, operations, parts and services, and eventually the top job in the country.
The “Big Three” American automaker recently celebrated its 120th year in Canada, which began just a few months after the company’s founding with the production of 117 Model C cars in 1904. Today, Ford of Canada employs 7,000 Canadians coast-to-coast, and produces roughly 15 per cent of the cars sold in the country each year.
Goodman began her tenure as president and CEO just as Ford was beginning to emerge from the pandemic into what proved to be a galaxy of new challenges, including supply chain issues, green energy mandates, and a more global competitive landscape.
The Star recently spoke with Goodman about the company’s storied past, the federal government’s plan to phase out gas vehicles by 2035, the company’s employment outlook in Canada, and whether her grandchildren will need to learn how to drive.
What do you remember from your co-op at Ford of Canada in 1996?
What stands out for me was the team. I learned a ton about the company and honed my analytical skills, but it was really the people that that I remember the most, and that’s what ultimately encouraged me to join full-time.
What has kept you there for the last 28 years?
I just fell in love with the company and the people. I connected with the culture immediately — how we worked together as a finance team — and 28 years later, it continues to be about the people, who I believe are the best in the industry. Ford of Canada does have a lot of long-tenured employees. A lot of the people that I work with today have been around for as long or longer than I have and there’s a little bit of magic in that.
It was also because the company offered this broad set of opportunities across multiple areas of the business, with the opportunity to go to different markets, and that was something that really appealed to me. I saw a long future ahead.
What areas of the business have you worked in during that time?
The start that I had in finance really did give me a very good grounding for understanding the company and the business, and honed my analytical and financial skills, and foundation has served me well throughout every job I’ve been in.
Since then, I’ve worked in consumer experience, marketing and sales, and as what we then-called a “dealer operations manager,” basically a parts and service rep for dealers, which really helped me understand the dealer business. That role had a huge impact. Following that, leading the sales operations organization and leading retail marketing are probably where I learned the most and continue to take the most learning from today.
Do you believe that breadth of experience helped you land the President and CEO role in 2021?
I always had a desire to learn and make the business stronger. Going into different areas of the business, which I always found interesting, also gave me additional skill sets that maybe set me up to be considered for this role, but I didn’t join the company 28 years ago thinking I was going to become president.
I came into this job right as we were exiting COVID, which was a very challenging period as we started facing semiconductor shortages, and as a Canadian who had worked in different parts of the business, I think I offered some level of stability.
Since then, the business has been under pressure to evolve. Do you think Ottawa’s plan to phase out gas-powered vehicles by 2035 is realistic?
I personally — and we as a company — absolutely support the federal government’s focus on reducing emissions, but I would say the pathway to getting there requires a greater level of flexibility than what’s built into the current regulation.
We are working hard every day to achieve that future together, but there’s a lot of work to be done to get to that level of adoption, including significant investments in infrastructure. One of the biggest challenges that customers have with the pure battery electric vehicle is range anxiety. We know most customers who adopt electric vehicles charge overnight at home, but the availability of public chargers is not where it needs to be to support the aggressive targets that exist.
The other issue is affordability. There is a price premium on electric vehicles across the industry — there’s long-term gas savings — but it’s a bigger upfront investment. We know that affordability is a challenge for consumers, and not just when it comes to vehicles. That’s why we’re investing in an affordable electric vehicle platform that will bring lower cost vehicles to the market to meet those customer needs.
This summer Ford of Canada delayed plans to build EVs in Oakville in favour of Super Duty pickups. Is that where demand is currently?
We made adjustments to our electric vehicle plans based on learning from our customers and from markets globally, but we continue to invest globally in an electric vehicle future.
The all-electric three-row SUV that was planned to be built next door, we don’t believe that we can bring that product to market with the right technology and pricing right now. It doesn’t mean that we’re pulling back on electrification. Pure-battery electric vehicle sales in the industry rose 40 per cent last year and have more than doubled from this point last year, so we are bringing pure battery electric vehicles to market in an aggressive way, but we need to make sure that we’re bringing the right products to market at the right time.
Bringing Super Duty production to Canada is a really great opportunity for the Canadian workforce and for the plant over here. It will provide stable production to our employee base and brings them back to work a year earlier than we expected.
There is concern that EVs require fewer workers. Coupled with advances in manufacturing technology, do you anticipate lower staffing levels?
That’s a bit of a misconception. EV production may have fewer workstations because there are fewer components, but not fewer workers. At the same time, we will need to invest in training and retraining, not just at our manufacturing facilities but also our dealerships and service departments. It requires different technical training to service electric and hybrid vehicles. So, there’s a huge amount of work that’s right now going into how we train those employees from a technical standpoint to service those vehicles, and at the dealership level to have the product knowledge to sell a purely electric vehicle or hybrid vehicles.
Beyond electrification, what else can consumers expect in the future?
Connected vehicle technology is really exciting. The other day I saw a notification in my FordPass app that said I needed an update, and I thought I would have to book an appointment, but the next day I woke up and the update happened automatically overnight.
The connected vehicle technology also enables incredible digital experiences, like BlueCruise hands-free highway driving. A couple weekends ago I drove to Windsor, and it essentially drove the vehicle for me. I had to keep my eyes on the road, but when I arrived I was much more relaxed, and it had been a much more enjoyable journey. That technology is only going to develop over time.
How close are we to fully autonomous vehicles? Will driver’s licences become a relic of the past?
I don’t expect to see that happen in my lifetime, nor in my kid’s lifetime — they’re in their early 20s — and I don’t know if I can project further than that. Will the technology that we have now continue to strengthen to enable more and more hands-free driving? Absolutely. But will my grandchildren still have to learn how to drive? Probably.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
