After a banner year that included the triumphant return of Michigan Central Station and induction into the Automotive Hall of Fame, Ford’s Executive Chair was honored as one of Detroit’s visionaries.
Every January, Hour Detroit Magazine celebrates a select few individuals who have made an impact on the Detroit metro area by naming them to the Hour Detroiters List. Now, after a year that saw both the culmination of an ambitious plan to resurrect a Detroit landmark in Michigan Central Station and induction into the Automotive Hall of Fame, Ford Executive Chair Bill Ford has been announced as being honored with inclusion on the 2025 Detroiters incarnation of the list.
Here’s what Hour Detroit had to say about the honor:
Late September, in the station’s grand hall, Bill Ford was inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame, along with five other “global mobility pioneers,” for his “pivotal role advancing the industry while positioning an iconic, global, 120-year-old family company for the future.” He was also honored for his forward-thinking environmental views and relentless cheerleading for Detroit’s comeback. In conjunction with the grand opening of Michigan Central, his wife, Lisa Vanderzee Ford, led an effort to raise $20 million to establish endowments for 10 local family charities in coordination with the Children’s Foundation, their longtime philanthropic partner..
About the honor and his vision for the future, Ford said:
““The opportunities and the challenges are different for each generation, but the values themselves are timeless: taking care of each other, taking care of our communities, being there when the country needs us. I hope those continue after me. You can’t take it for granted, because I find that when management changes over, sometimes there’s not a clear handoff of that. And I have to step in and remind people that no, this is who we are and this is what we stand for. And we’re going to be different from other companies.”
