| Free Press Business Columnist
To say Bill Ford and his family have attracted attention would be putting it mildly. It began when Henry Ford — his great-grandfather — started the Ford Motor Co., impacting the industrial age and putting the Motor City on the map.
Three generations of Fords have run the company, with Bill Ford now serving as his executive chair. Much has changed in Ford’s nearly 119-year history, but the focus and fascination with the family behind the Blue Oval has not.
Which is among the Things we talked about Feb. 4 as Bill Ford and I walked inside the once majestic but shuttered Michigan Central Station coming to life in Detroit as part of an innovation and mobility hub he is championing with Ford’s $1 billion investment. Ford purchased the station — built in 1913 and closed in 1988 — in 2018. It is surrounded by 30 acres that will be part of the project.
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Bill Ford had just left the stage inside the station’s lobby where he provided an update to the community about the Michigan Central hub, which is evolving when we talked. He was joined by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan and Ruth Porat, CFO of Google, as each talked about their involvement in this unique public-private undertaking.
Bill Ford hopes it will help his company keep ahead of mobility and technology changes and also give the Motor City and state a boost by attracting and training more talent and luring other companies and entrepreneurs.
There’s zero doubt it’s going to up the cool factor, which will be a magnet for much in-demand millennials as the battle for talent rages on
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Speaking of talent and his company’s future, I was curious what advice he gave his daughter, Alexandra Ford English, 34, who had a great career going (she worked top jobs at Tory Burch, Gap Inc.) before joining the family business in 2017 She was named to Ford’s board in 2021.
“I told her, ‘You have to really, really want to do it,'” Ford said. “’It’s very demanding and people will always be looking at you. You’re under a microscope and you have to be as good or better than everyone.’
“She’s loving it,” he said, beaming with obvious pride.
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Henry Ford III, who is Edsel B. Ford II’s son, was also appointed to the board at the same time. Edsel B. Ford II (son of Henry Ford II and Bill Ford’s cousin) announced his retirement from the board in 2021.
Bill Ford, 64, joined the company in 1979, right out of college. Though he was immersed in it from the time he could talk as his late father, William Clay Ford Sr., was a longtime board member. Yes, family dinners leave lasting impressions.
The auto industry is part of his DNA, but Bill Ford is also supercharging efforts to go beyond as he charts a bold direction linking to technology, artificial intelligence, robots, drones and who knows what else.
It reflects the blurring of lines between these industries.
There’s irony in the fact that we talked about the future from the once-glorious station that welcomed millions but closed in 1988 and sat falling apart in full view of anyone driving downtown.
“I was sick and tired of this station being a poster child for the decay of Detroit,” he said as he talked about his “aha” moment of stepping up. “This is my home and if we could make it into something significant, we should do it.
“We want this to go from being a national punch line to a national treasure. … It will be cool!” he added.
When he first walked into the station, he told me it “was daunting.”
“We had 12 feet of water in the basement that had to be pumped out.”
There were ceiling tiles overhead that needed to be replaced or repaired. One section over the front door had 29,000 tiles — and they were fixed one at a time and by hand.
Ford gave kudos to those who continue to work inside the station on the massive rehab.
“I never wanted this to be a trip down memory lane,” he added. “This is about the future. We’re going to use this as a place to test new ideas and concepts. It will be about drones, robots and more.”
And it will be about more than Ford as other companies and entrepreneurs will be attracted by it.
Porat, CFO of Google, who has offices in Detroit and Ann Arbor, told me Google was smitten by the undertaking and wanted to get involved. Google signed on as a founding member of Michigan Central — the first to join Ford — and will help train high school students and others for high-tech jobs.
“There’s an extraordinary opportunity and responsibility in this digital transformation to make sure people have the skills they need for jobs of the future,” she added. Google is providing cloud-based services for the hub.
Whitmer announced the state is backing the hub and surrounding area with $126 million in new and existing investments and resources. She said Electreon had been selected to build a public wireless in-road charging system — the first in the nation — for electric vehicles near the station.
As for the timetable, Ford said the building next door to the station — the old book depository — will open this summer. And the station in 2023.
“We’re going to attract the best and brightest to work here — engineers, software developers. There’s a war for talent and we’re upping our game,” Ford said.
It will also include hotel space and restaurants. There’s already a waiting list of folks wanting to hold weddings inside the station. One area where weddings will be held is covered by construction beams. Never mind the dust and construction workers there now; it’s about envisioning the future, something Bill Ford is all about.
We talked about his legacy and how he’d like to be remembered.
“I’m not looking at legacy or the past, I’m focusing on the future,” he said.
Michigan Central will certainly be part of Bill Ford’s story.
I asked what he thought his great-grandfather — who created the assembly line and revolutionary $5-a-day pay for workers — might say about the company today.
“Until three or four years ago, he would have recognized it. But things are changing so quickly now, he wouldn’t recognize it now,” Ford said.
“He also would have said, ‘What took you so long!'”
With so much happening, Ford mentioned one regret, “That I’m not 30 years younger … and able to watch it all unfold.”
Contact Carol Cain at clcain@cbs.com. She is senior producer/host of “Michigan Matters,” which airs 8 am Sundays on CBS 62.