Ford Motor Co. has hired the former general counsel to the U.S. Department of Energy as chief policy officer and general counsel, the automaker announced Wednesday.
Steven Croley, an expert in regulatory law who is licensed to practice law in Michigan, Illinois and Washington, D.C., will join the company on July 12 to “help the company further leverage and build on its strengths in government relations, sustainability, safety, legal and privacy” matters, Ford said in its news release.
His expertise includes regulatory compliance, foreign investment, litigation involving public bodies, investigations, and government-oriented advice and counseling over a range of policy areas, with special emphasis on energy and the environment, according to the faculty biography from where he once taught at the University of Michigan Law School.
In addition, Rebecca Pagani, 40, is joining Ford from Amazon on July 12 as chief privacy officer, “illustrating Ford’s commitment to staying ahead in protecting and employing customer and company data,” the company said. As a senior corporate counsel at Amazon, Pagani advised on issues and policy related to e-commerce, cloud computing, digital streaming and artificial intelligence businesses.
These are just two more high-profile hires by Ford as CEO Jim Farley publicly commits to taking a leadership role globally as the industry pivots to electrification.
He hired diplomat Jon Huntsman as a strategic adviser in April. He named Laura Dove, a former aide to U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell, as a top Ford lobbyist in December. Ford also hired Caroline Adler Morales from the office of the Obamas to play a key role in Washington D.C.
Reporting to Farley
“Steve has deep leadership experience at the intersection of law and policy and will add strength to our terrific legal, government relations and sustainability teams,” Farley said in a news release. “His background will be invaluable as we partner with governments and others to speed development of breakthrough products and services that help give more people the freedom to move and pursue their dreams.”
The new policy leadership role was anticipated in October when Farley became CEO and announced organizational changes “to help the company fulfill its customer-first Ford+ plan for growth and value creation,” Ford said.
Croley, 55, will report directly to Farley and work closely with Huntsman, a member of the Ford board of directors who is now also vice chair of policy, an internal role, advising Farley and executive chairman Bill Ford.
The regulatory experience he brings to Ford is significant.
He served as general counsel for the U.S. Department of Energy from 2014 to 2017, which required Senate confirmation. He actively managed all major litigation, regulation, licensing, environmental permitting, intellectual property and procurement, according to his LinkedIn profile. In addition to advising then-Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz, Croley worked on cyber and intelligence issues as well as agency response to congressional investigations and crisis response.
He had been a member of President Barack Obama’s Domestic Policy Council from 2010-11 a special assistant to the president for justice and regulatory policy. In 2011, he joined the White House Counsel’s Office, and in 2012 became deputy White House counsel for legal policy, the U-M biography said.
In 2014, Croley was appointed by Obama as a council member of the Administrative Conference of the United States, an entity intended to make the government more efficient and effective, and in 2015 made vice chair of the Administrative Conference.
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Croley began teaching law at the University of Michigan in 1993 and served as associate dean for academic affairs from 2003 through 2006. From 2006 to 2010, he served as a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan.
His published books include “Civil Justice Reconsidered: Toward a Less Costly, More Accessible Civil Litigation System” by New York University Press in 2017, and “Regulation and Public Interests: The Possibility of Good Regulatory Government,” by Princeton University Press in 2008.
Croley earned his bachelor’s degree in political science and English literature from the University of Michigan, a law degree from Yale University and a doctorate in politics from Princeton University.
He is a partner in the Washington, D.C., office of Latham & Watkins, a law firm founded in 1934 in Los Angeles that is among the most financially successful in the U.S. It was the first American law firm to surpass $2 billion in annual revenue and then, in 2018, it became the first American law firm to surpass $3 billion in annual revenue, according to the firm’s website.
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John Mellen, “who postponed his planned retirement from Ford a year ago to take on the role of general counsel, will conclude his exceptional career with the company on Sept. 1,” following transition of his legal responsibilities to Croley, Ford said in its news release.
“For 40 years, John has helped safeguard our customers, our company and our people with his sharp legal expertise, sound judgment and principled approach,” Farley said.
Mitch Bainwol, Ford’s chief government relations officer, and Bob Holycross, vice president, Sustainability, Environment and Safety Engineering — both company officers — will report to Croley.
Pagani, senior corporate counsel at Amazon for nearly six years, has led global teams and advised the behemoth company on information security and privacy laws.
“I lead global teams, operationalize legal requirements and create and execute on digital strategies,” she wrote on her LinkedIn profile. “I help formulate Amazon’s information security policies and practices across all of the company’s business lines in the United States and internationally.”
Pagani’s profile says she has guided Amazon’s long-term strategy for protecting customer information, handling all in-house legal work related to data protection and assessing legal risk as well as assisting with investigations into security incidents.
“I lead Amazon’s digital cybercrime program and pursue litigation and law enforcement referrals against third parties who attempt to harm Amazon or its customers,” the LinkedIn profile says.
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Contact Phoebe Wall Howard: phoward@freepress.com or call/text 313-618-1034. Follow her on Twitter@phoebesaid. Read more on Ford and sign up for our autos newsletter.