Ford poaches Apple's 'vice president of people business partners'

By Oliver Haslam
published

Apple Store Cutout Nyc Update
Apple Store Cutout Nyc Update (Image credit: iMore)

What you need to know

  • Apple has lost more talent, this time to EV competitor Ford.
  • Jennifer Waldo will leave a current role as Apple's vice president of people business partners.
  • Waldo will join Ford as chief people and employee experiences officer.

Ford has poached Jennifer Waldo from a current role as Apple's vice president of people business partners, according to a new report. The move will see Waldo take a key role in a Ford restructuring known as Ford+.

The move was first reported by the Detroit Free Press which says the hiring is part of "the evolution of Ford Blue, Ford Model e and Ford Pro, divisions that focus on the gasoline-powered vehicles, electrification and technology and business clients, respectively."

In terms of Waldo in particular, a new role as chief people and employee experiences officer awaits at Ford.

Jennifer Waldo, currently vice president of "people business partners" at Apple in Cupertino, California, will soon become Ford's new chief people and employee experiences officer. She'll foster high-performance culture, scale talent and organizational capability in technology, innovation, the Ford news release said.

Ford CEO Jim Farley hailed the signing of Waldo, saying that the "incredible experience and track record" on offer will be of benefit to the Ford+ project.

"Jen has incredible experience and a track record of helping companies across different industries build talent and culture to support innovation and growth," Farley said. "She will be an invaluable addition as we build a diverse, high-performance team to deliver the Ford+ plan."

Waldo's LinkedIn profile says that she joined Apple in 2019.

Oliver Haslam
Oliver Haslam
Contributor

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too.

Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.