HUNTERSVILLE, N.C. — American Tire Distributors Inc. (ATD) has added former Ford Motor Co. CEO Mark Fields to its board of directors.
Mr. Fields — who parted ways with Ford last May — joined ATD shareholder TPG Capital L.P. in November as a senior adviser.
ATD President and CEO Stuart Schuette said Mr. Fields' "forward-thinking approach" to supply-chain operations and expertise in the automotive industry aligns with ATD and its subsidiaries' growth strategy.
"(Mr. Fields') automotive experience and passion for optimizing growth-oriented, technology-enabled businesses will be a catalyst to our go-forward business strategy," he said.
Mr. Fields, 56, joins ATD during a transformational time in the tire distribution company's history.
In 2017, ATD — considered the largest tire industry wholesale distributor in North America, with annual sales exceeding $5 billion — began implementing key changes to the organization, including the "functionalization" of the sales and supply-chain teams, the addition of capabilities, value-added services and innovative technologies and the expansion of the hub-and-spoke distribution system to optimize inventory management.
"I'm excited about ATD's business strategy," Mr. Fields said. "They are well positioned to drive innovation, change and support to their customers allowing them to lead in the market and stay competitive as the industry and consumer behaviors continue to evolve."
Mr. Fields is a Harvard Business School graduate with 28 years of service at Ford, where he was involved in Ford's business turnarounds and organizational restructuring. He was promoted to Ford CEO in July 2014 only to step down from that post less than three years later amid pressure from shareholders over a slumping stock price and during a period of rapid industry transformation and disruption.
TPG Capital is a joint shareholder in ATD with Ares Management L.P.'s Private Equity Group.