Former FCC Chairman Bill Kennard has joined the board of directors of Ford Motor Co.
The 57-year-old Kennard is now chairman and co-founder of asset management firm Velocitas Partners LLC and a member of the operating executive board of Staple Street Capital, a private equity firm. Kennard is on the board of directors for AT&T Inc., MetLife and Duke Energy Corp.
“As we accelerate our work in areas of in-car connectivity and mobility, his unique perspective will help guide our strategy and Blueprint for Mobility forward,” according to Ford Executive Chairman Bill Ford, noting that Kennard has spent years shaping policy and developing initiatives to improve the benefits of technology for consumers.
Prior to his appointment as chairman of the FCC in 1997, Kennard was the commission’s general counsel, beginning in 1993. He left the agency in 2001 and became a managing director of The Carlyle Group, leading the firm’s telecom and media investments. Kennard later became U.S. ambassador to the European Union from 2009 to 2013, working to eliminate regulatory barriers to commerce and to promote transatlantic trade, investment and job creation.
Kennard will serve on the Nominating and Governance Committee. His appointment is effective Jan. 1, 2015.
