Administration

In an age where ownership changes and franchise moves in professional sports have become alarmingly commonplace, William Clay Ford continues to provide the Detroit Lions organization, its fans and the community with unwavering stability and sound leadership.

His commitment to the franchise is imprinted on virtually every aspect of the organization. By combining one of the finest sports and entertainment venues, Ford Field, and a world-class headquarters and training environment with a strong management team, Mr. Ford has instilled the organization with the right mix of fuel that will power the further development of the entire Lions organization.

Throughout his tenure as owner, William Clay Ford has guided the Detroit Lions organization with a sense of balance, integrity and honest leadership. Never one to seek the limelight, Mr. Ford has not sought public accolades for his many contributions to football, the automotive industry and his community.

Known as Bill Ford to his friends and business associates, his relationship with the Lions began during his childhood when his father, Edsel Ford, took him to the University of Detroit Stadium to see the first Lions’ team play in their maiden season in the Motor City in 1934.

He became a club director in 1956 and was asked by then-Lions’ President Edwin J. (Andy) Anderson to become the Lions’ president in 1961.

In November 1963, Mr. Ford purchased the team outright for $4.5 million and officially took over the club January 10, 1964. The 2008 season will mark the 45th year of Mr. Ford’s sole ownership of the club.

2009 marks the beginning of a new era for Detroit Lions football. From everything to the team’s management all they way down to the logo on the helmet have changed with the mindset to improve this franchise and compete for championships. This past off-season has brought considerable changes to the organization starting with the promotion of Tom Lewand as team president and Martin Mayhew as general manager. Lewand oversees the direction of the organization, including business operations, and Mayhew is responsible for all football matters. Both set out in January to find the best coach for this team, and they did so when the team hired Jim Schwartz, who most recently served as defensive coordinator for many successful Tennessee Titans over the past eight years, as the Lions’ new head coach.

With Lewand and Mayhew in place, they set forth a plan that will elevate this team to new heights and they haven’t wavered from that plan, which forged ahead during free agency and the draft.

“I look forward to 2009, and hopefully this will be the season that will catapult us back on the road to a championship title. Each year we must make progress to achieve our goal of winning a Super Bowl, and I feel that we can get there with the organization and plan we now have in place. I have enjoyed seeing our coaching and player personnel staffs work together efficiently and effectively and make decisions that improve this team. It is not about one player, one coach or one GM, it is about everyone moving forward in concert with our plan and executing it on a daily basis.”

Of course, Mr. Ford’s other passion in life is the automotive industry, he being the only surviving grandson of inventor and auto pioneer Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company.

For the entire Ford family, 2003 marked a year of great pride and celebration as Ford Motor Company commemorated its historic 100 years as an icon in American industry.

In May 2005, Mr. Ford retired from the Board of Directors of Ford Motor Company after nearly 57 years of service. He remains director emeritus on the Board of Directors. Mr. Ford most recently served as a member of the Board of Directors and was on the company’s Finance Committee, and in years past served on its Governance Committee. He had been a board member since 1948 and was chairman of the company’s Design Committee from its inception in 1957 until his retirement as vice chairman in March 1989.

Utilizing his expertise in design, Mr. Ford was also on special assignment as a design consultant focusing on the Jaguar.

During his career with the company, Mr. Ford gained special satisfaction and acclaim as the executive in charge of the design, development and subsequent introduction of the Continental Mark II, the successor to the classic Lincoln Continental that had been developed and introduced by his father Edsel in 1939. In 1973, Mr. Ford was appointed vice president-Product Design.

Mr. Ford was elected to the Board of Directors in 1948 and began his employment at Ford following graduation from Yale University. He served several executive positions before appointment as vice president and general manager of the Continental Division in 1954. In 1956, he assumed responsibility for corporate product planning and design.

When the Design Committee of Ford’s Policy and Strategy Committee was formed in 1957, Mr. Ford became the committee’s first chairman, a post he held until retirement in 1989.

In 1978, Mr. Ford was elected chairman of the Executive Committee and appointed a member of the Office of the Chief Executive. He was elected vice chairman of the Board in 1980 and chairman of the Finance Committee in 1987. He retired as chairman of the Finance Committee in 1995.

The youngest of Edsel’s four children, William Clay Ford was born March 14, 1925. Following a tour of duty with the U.S. Naval Air Corp in World War II, he enrolled at Yale, where he lettered in both tennis and soccer at the Ivy League school. As a collegian, he won league tennis titles in singles and doubles, and he earned All-American honorable mention honors in soccer. In fact, he was a nationally-ranked tennis player until two Achilles tendon surgeries relegated him to the sidelines. Mr. Ford’s athletic participation today includes golf, a game in which he became nearly a scratch performer, while registering a remarkable seven (7) holes-in-one over the years.

He graduated from Yale with a bachelor’s of science degree in economics and then joined Ford’s sales and advertising staff. He later served on the industrial relations staff where he was a member of the committee that negotiated the historic 1949 contract with the UAW-CIO.

Mr. Ford also is chairman emeritus of the Board of Trustees of The Henry Ford. He is an honorary life trustee of the Eisenhower Medical Center, is a national trustee for the Boys’ and Girls’ Clubs of America and honorary chair of the United Way Community Services. He is also on the Texas Heart Institute National Advisory Council. Mr. Ford received an honorary doctor of science degree from the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, Calif., in 1981.

Mr. Ford’s generosity as a benefactor was again recognized in 1997, as the outdoor courts of the University of Michigan’s new tennis center were named in his honor. Also, a new addition to Detroit’s Henry Ford Hospital (which bears the name of Mr. Ford’s grandfather) opened in 1996 - The William Clay Ford Center for Athletic Medicine - which is one of the leading sports medicine treatment and research institutions in the country.

He is married to the former Martha Firestone of Akron, Ohio. They are the parents of three daughters— Martha, Sheila and Elizabeth— and a son, William Clay Ford, Jr., who serves as the Lions Vice Chairman, in addition to his role as Executive Chairman of Ford Motor Company.