Google has appointed Alan Mulally, the just-retired President and CEO of Ford Motor Company, to its board of directors, the search company said Tuesday.
Mulally ran Ford from 2006 until July 1, when he retired and was replaced by Mark Fields, Ford's COO.
Mulally was considered a strong outside candidate for the chief executive spot at Microsoft, but insider Satya Nadella was named CEO in January after months of searching. He was also a top executive at Boeing from 2001 to 2006.
The part-time role on the board of directors began July 9, and Mulally will serve on the audit committee, Google said.
"I am so pleased that Alan is now joining Google’s board," said Google CEO Larry Page in a statement.
Mulally's deep connections with the automotive industry may be helpful to Google, which is rapidly expanding its self-driving cars project and hopes to partner with auto makers in the future to bring autonomous cars to consumers in the coming years.
