Title: Group Vice President, Global Purchasing, Ford Motor Company
Tony (Thomas K.) Brown is group vice president, Global Purchasing, Ford Motor Company, effective April 1, 2008. He had been senior vice president for Global Purchasing since September 2004, and had been vice president for the same area since January 2002. In his role, Brown is responsible for approximately $65 billion of production and non-production procurement for Ford operations worldwide.
Before being named vice president, Brown was executive director, Manufacturing Procurement Operations – Ford Global Purchasing. Before his role as executive director, he was director, Ford Purchasing Global Strategic Planning and Process Leadership.
Brown joined Ford in July 1999 from United Technologies Automotive, where he was vice president of Supply Management. Before joining United Technologies Automotive, he was executive director of corporate purchasing and transportation for QMS Inc., a maker and provider of networked enterprise printing solutions.
Brown holds a bachelor's degree in economics and finance from American International College in Springfield, Mass.
In 2008, Rainbow/PUSH honored Brown with the “Keep Hope Alive” award, and in 2006, he received the National Action Network’s “Keeper of the Dream” award. Brown serves as a board member on Business for Social Responsibility, and is active with The Boys & Girls Clubs of Southeastern Michigan, The Michigan First Tee, and Focus: HOPE
Brown is responsible for more than $90 billion of production and nonproduction procurement worldwide for all eight of Ford's automobile brands (Ford, Volvo, Jaguar, Land Rover, Lincoln, Mercury, Aston Martin, and Mazda). Since joining Ford in 1999, Brown has held various positions, including executive director for manufacturing procurement operations. Ford spent $3.2 billion in 2003 on products and services from minority-owned suppliers. During his tenure, Brown has sought to push that number higher each year. Prior to joining Ford, he was vice president of supply management at United Technologies Automotive, after having served as executive director of corporate purchasing and transportation for QMS Inc., a maker and provider of network enterprise printing solutions.
