DETROIT — Jon Huntsman, a former governor of Utah who ran for U.S. president in 2012, is rejoining Ford Motor Co.’s board of directors after a three-year absence, part of which he served as ambassador to Russia.
Huntsman, 60, will be a member of the board’s nominating and governance, compensation, and sustainability and innovation committees. With his re-election, effective immediately, Ford’s board of directors has 14 members.
“I’m thrilled that we will again benefit from Jon’s extraordinary experience, insights and relationships,” Executive Chairman Bill Ford said in a statement on Thursday. “His career and accomplishments in global policy and trade are incomparable.”
Huntsman was Utah’s governor twice, from 2005 to 2009. He was U.S. ambassador to China from 2009 to 2011 and ambassador to Singapore in the early 1990s. He also spent two years as deputy U.S. trade representative in President George W. Bush’s administration, working on dozens of trade and investment agreements in Asia Pacific and Africa, according to Ford.
Huntsman was first elected to Ford’s board in 2012 and served until 2017, when he accepted the Russia position. He resigned as ambassador in 2019 to return to Utah to run for governor a third time, but he was defeated in the state’s Republican primary election this year.
