Eseandre Mordi
Sometimes the best way back home is taking the long route. That's exactly what Jim Farley did when he spent nearly two decades at Toyota before returning to his roots at Ford. Born into a family with deep connections to the American automaker, Farley's grandfather was one of the earliest Ford employees back in 1914. But instead of going straight to Detroit after business school, Farley took his talents to Toyota, learned everything he could from the Japanese giant, and then brought that knowledge back to transform Ford into a modern powerhouse. Today, as CEO of Ford, he's pushing the company headfirst into the electric vehicle revolution while earning one of the biggest paychecks in the automotive industry.
How Ford's CEO Got His Start in the Automotive World
Look, Jim Farley didn't just wake up one day and decide to get into cars. This guy's been obsessed since he was a kid. Born in Buenos Aires back in 1962, Farley grew up knowing his family history was literally built at Ford – his grandfather Emmet Tracy was employee number 389 at Ford's Highland Park plant in 1914. That kind of legacy doesn't just disappear.
At 14, Farley was already spending his summers rebuilding car engines in California. Not taking them apart for fun – actually rebuilding them, getting his hands dirty with real mechanical work. A year later, at just 15, he scraped together enough money to buy a beat-up 1966 Ford Mustang with a completely blown engine. Most teenagers would've given up, but not Farley. He rebuilt the whole thing himself and dropped in a 289 V8. While his friends were hanging out at the mall or whatever kids did in the late 70s, Farley was at a local Ferrari dealership chatting up Italian mechanics during his paper route. The guy was basically living and breathing automobiles before he could even legally drive on his own.
Education and First Steps: The CEO of Ford's Toyota Years
Farley headed to Georgetown University where he studied economics and computer science – pretty solid foundation for someone who'd eventually run a massive corporation. After that, he went west to UCLA's Anderson School of Management for his MBA. But here's what made his education different: to pay the bills, he worked at a vehicle restoration shop in Santa Monica run by Phil Hill, a former Formula One world champion. Forget sitting in some boring office as an intern – Farley was restoring classic cars with an absolute legend.
When he graduated in 1990, car companies were basically throwing job offers at him. But his grandfather gave him some advice that probably seemed crazy at the time: go to Toyota, learn from the best, then come back to Detroit. So that's exactly what Farley did. He joined Toyota's strategic planning department and spent the next 17 years climbing the ranks. He worked in marketing and product development across the US and Europe, but his biggest win came when he launched the Scion brand. That whole campaign targeting younger buyers? That was all Farley, and it worked like crazy. By 2005, he'd worked his way up to running the entire Lexus division as group vice president and general manager.
Career Trajectory: From Lexus Leader to Ford CEO
By 2007, Farley was sitting pretty at Toyota, running their luxury brand and making good money. But then Ford's CEO Alan Mulally called him up with an interesting proposition – come run global marketing and communications at Ford in a brand new role created just for him. At 45 years old, Farley decided it was time to go back to Detroit. Some family members thought he was nuts for leaving Toyota, but Farley knew this was his shot to do something bigger.
His first major play at Ford showed everyone what he was capable of. In 2009, when Ford was launching the new Fiesta, Farley didn't waste millions on boring TV commercials. Instead, he handed 100 brand new Fiestas to YouTube influencers and told them to just drive them around and post videos. It was revolutionary at the time, and those videos racked up six and a half million views. The marketing world took notice. From there, Farley just kept moving up: Executive Vice President by 2010, running Ford Europe in 2015, President of Global Markets in 2017, then President of New Business, Technology and Strategy in 2019. Finally, in August 2020, Ford announced what everyone saw coming – Farley would take over as CEO of Ford on October 1, 2020, replacing Jim Hackett.
The Peak: What Ford CEO Earns Today
Let's talk money, because the CEO of Ford isn't exactly struggling to pay the bills. Farley pulled in $24.9 million in 2024, which actually represents a 6.1% drop from the $26.5 million he made in 2023. That package breaks down to a base salary of $1.7 million, with the rest coming from stock awards, bonuses tied to company performance, and other perks. The dip happened because Ford missed some targets, so his bonus got cut. But honestly, $24.9 million is still an insane amount of money. His total net worth is estimated around $30 million when you factor in all the stock options and compensation he's racked up over his entire career.
Since taking over as the CEO of Ford, Farley's been making massive changes. He split the company into three separate businesses: Ford Blue handles the traditional gas-powered and hybrid vehicles that still make the company money, Ford Model e focuses entirely on electric vehicles and all the software that runs them, and Ford Pro serves commercial customers who need work trucks and fleet vehicles. He also went all-in on EVs, committing more than $30 billion to electric vehicle development by 2025. The F-150 Lightning, Ford's all-electric pickup truck, launched under his watch and became America's best-selling electric truck in 2023. Ford's stock price has bounced around, but the company's definitely positioning itself as a serious contender in the EV space, not just another legacy automaker trying to catch up.
Ford CEO's Philosophy: Keys to Success
Farley's got some pretty interesting ideas about what actually matters if you want to make it to the top. First thing: supply chain management. Seriously. He's said multiple times that if he had to start his career over, he'd go straight into supply chain. Why? Because running a complex global supply chain teaches you everything you need to know about running a company – problem-solving under pressure, managing relationships, dealing with constant changes and disruptions. He's pointed out that Tim Cook came from supply chain, and look where that got him. The skills are basically identical to what you need as a CEO.
But Farley also thinks we're pushing way too many people toward traditional college degrees, and he's not afraid to say it out loud. At the Aspen Ideas Festival, he mentioned that tech companies cut their entry-level hiring by 50% between 2019 and now. With AI about to replace something like half of all white-collar jobs, Farley thinks we should be focusing more on trade schools and technical training – jobs that actually pay well and can't be automated away by some algorithm. Not everyone needs a four-year degree to have a successful career.
More than anything though, Farley believes you've got to genuinely love what you're doing. The man owns a 1966 Ford GT40 Mk II, a 1965 Shelby Cobra, and a 1955 Porsche Speedster – classic cars he actually drives and maintains himself. He even imported a Chinese electric sedan, the Xiaomi SU7, because he wanted to understand what the competition was building. That's not a CEO doing market research, that's a car enthusiast who happens to run a car company. His entire philosophy comes down to a few simple ideas: stay endlessly curious about your industry, master the complex systems that actually make things work, don't worship college degrees just because society says you should, and never lose that genuine passion for what you're building. Success isn't just about making money – it's about leaving things better than you found them for the people who come after you.
Eseandre Mordi
