Bozella to succeed Fountain

Posted on Friday, January 30th, 2009 at 4:24 PM EST.

After 35 years with the company, Frank Fountain, Senior Vice President—External Affairs and Public Policy (Auburn Hills), has announced plans to retire.

As a result of Fountain’s decision, Chrysler LLC today named John Bozzella to Senior Vice President—External Affairs and Public Policy in a role that consolidates Chrysler’s External Affairs operations based in Auburn Hills and Washington, D.C. Bozzella will be responsible for Chrysler’s enterprise-wide External Affairs and Public Policy organization.

Fountain will remain engaged with the company, assuming the chairmanship of the Walter P. Chrysler Museum Foundation Board of Directors. In addition, he will continue as an advisor to the company during this important period of transition.

“Frank’s career has been distinguished by a record of accomplishment, highlighted by a personal commitment to public service,” Chrysler Chairman and CEO Bob Nardelli said. “Being a good corporate citizen is part of Chrysler’s DNA, and Frank has been a strong advocate in the company’s continuing efforts to be a good neighbor and good citizen. He is also a well respected member of the community, who has dedicated his personal time to serving numerous causes and organizations. We thank Frank for his contributions and appreciate his ongoing commitment.”

As President of The Chrysler Foundation for the past 13 years, Fountain led the granting of more than $350 million to deserving charities across the country and the world. Fountain has also served on numerous boards at the local and national level, including Detroit Renaissance, Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce, Focus Hope, New Detroit, Hampton University Board of Trustees, Wharton Board of Overseers, Corporate Council on Africa, Africare and the Arab American National Museum.

Bozzella and the External Affairs and Public Policy organization are responsible for analyzing issues that are critical to the company and the auto industry, developing company positions and presenting those topics of concern to all levels of government.

With this appointment, Bozzella will assume the following additional areas of responsibility: Community Relations, National Education Programs and The Chrysler Foundation, which is the company’s philanthropic organization. Bozzella will serve as the president of the foundation.

As part of Chrysler’s strategy to be a more efficient and focused organization characterized by fewer layers of management with broader spans of control, Bozzella will retain the responsibilities of his prior position.

In that role, he is responsible for providing strategic direction to Chrysler External Affairs offices in Washington, D.C., Canada and Mexico, as well as coordinating federal and state public policy development in conjunction with Chrysler’s External Affairs and Public Policy office in Auburn Hills. He also coordinates the activities of the Corporate Representative offices in Latin America.

Bozzella joined the company in May 2005 from Ford Motor Co., where he served as Vice President, Public Policy and State Governmental Affairs. He reports to Nardelli.

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