Rivian and the Ford Motor Company have announced the appointment of Alexandra English to Rivian’s board of directors.
English is the daughter of Ford Motor Company’s executive chairman Bill Ford, the granddaughter of Henry Ford II, and the great granddaughter of company founder Henry Ford.
She is currently the Ford Motor Company corporate strategy director, responsible for the company’s enterprise strategy and connectivity and digital network strategy.
“Alexandra and I share a deep passion for mobility and electrification, and her connection to Ford’s long family role in transportation is something special. I am looking forward to working closely with her and the perspective that she will bring to the Board,” says Rivian founder and chief executive officer RJ Scaringe.
The Ford Motor Company made an initial equity investment of US $500 million in Rivian in April 2019, and an additional equity investment in December 2019.
Ford plans to develop a new vehicle using Rivian’s flexible skateboard platform. The vehicle with Rivian is in addition to Ford’s plan to develop a portfolio of battery electric vehicles as part of Ford’s previously announced US $11bn of EV investments.
“Our strategic partnership with Rivian plays an important role in the future of fully networked battery electric vehicles,” says Ford president and ceo Jim Hackett. “Alexandra’s experience in mobility and self-driving services means she will bring a unique perspective to Rivian’s board during this transformational time in our industry.”
English joined Ford Motor Company in 2017. Prior to joining the corporate strategy team, she was a member of the Ford Autonomous Vehicle team and a member of the City Solutions team. Before joining Ford, she was responsible for managing profit and loss operations for customer-centric businesses in the merchandising divisions of Tory Burch in New York and Gap Inc. in San Francisco.
English holds a bachelor’s degree from Stanford University and a master’s degree from Harvard Business School.
