Richard Parry-Jones
| Richard Parry-Jones | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1951 Bangor, North Wales, Great Britain |
| Engineering career | |
| Awards |
Fellow of both the Royal Academy of Engineering, and the Institution of Mechanical Engineers |
Fellow of both the Royal Academy of Engineering, and the Institution of Mechanical Engineers
Man of the Year, 1994, Autocar
Richard Parry-Jones FREng was Group Vice President-Global Product Development, Chief Technical Officer and Head of Global R&D Operations at Ford Motor Company until his retirement from Ford in December 2007. Parry-Jones directed the concurrent development of dozens of vehicles at Ford and significantly influenced vehicles including the 1993 Ford Mondeo, both the 1998 International Ford Focus and 2000 North American Ford Focus, the European 1981 Escort and 1983 Sierra, as well as the Ka, Fiesta, Puma, Cougar and Galaxy.
Parry-Jones oversaw product development for Ford vehicles worldwide, as well as design, research and vehicle technology. As Chief Technical Officer, he reported to the company's Board of Directors on technical matters, headed a technical staff of 30,000 engineers, scientists, designers and business professionals in North America, Europe, Latin America and the Asia-Pacific region, including the Ford, Lincoln, Jaguar, Volvo, Land Rover, and Aston Martin brands.
Parry-Jones was also responsible for product safety and environmental initiatives at Ford. This included follow-up work on the company's response to problems that arose through its use of Firestone tyres on Ford Explorer SUVs. Parry-Jones has described this as his most difficult time as an engineer. "I probably lost a half a stone over that period because it was just so intense. I learned a lot from that. Most of all I learned the power of really rigorous engineering analysis in saving lives.”
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