William Clay Ford Jr.

By simultaneously wearing the titles of president, chief executive officer, and chairman of the board of the Ford Motor Company, his constituencies include the corporation's directors and officers, stockholders, 28,000 dealers, and some 350,000 employees. Add to that: Wall Street, the international banking community, countless suppliers, and multiple labor unions. Did we mention government regulators, political and environmental interests, perhaps 100 million customers, and Detroit Lions fans? Plus a large and powerful family whose considerable fortune depends on the value of Ford stock?

For the privileges described above, he currently draws no salary.

In spite of pressures that may at times seem as large as the world itself-because you can buy a Ford car or truck in just about every part of it-William Clay Ford Jr. seems confidently at ease in any situation, in front of any crowd. When introduced, he disarmingly dispenses the usual "Mr. Ford" formalities with an honest handshake and "Please-it's Bill."

The affable 46-year-old Princeton/MIT grad has worked at the company since 1979 and assumed the chairman's role on January 1, 1999. That makes him the first family member at the board's helm since his uncle, Henry Ford II, retired in March 1980. Bill Ford reluctantly took on the obligations of chief executive officer in October 2001 after an acrimonious parting with then-CEO Jac Nasser. Though the capable and decisive Nasser had fans and foes in the industry, several business analysts suggest it was he who paved the path to the company's current financial challenges.

Ford worked swiftly to reorganize his management team. While Nasser pursued several tangential business opportunities (the acquisition of Volvo, Land Rover, and the Stewart-now Jaguar-Formula One team, and the establishment of the Premier Automotive Group), Ford-brand product development lagged, and quality problems nagged several models. Mr. Ford (sorry-Bill) appointed Nick Scheele chief operating officer and coaxed longtime Ford money man Allan Gilmour out of retirement to take the position of CFO; these are just two of the many personnel moves that followed.