Barb samardzich biography of christopher

Ford Motor Company recently named Barb Samardzich vice president of product development, Ford of Europe. She oversees all product development activities in the European region.

It’s a critical position, considering Ford will launch 20 new or significantly freshened vehicles before 2014. Samardzich, who earned her master’s degree in mechanical engineering from Carnegie Mellon in 1985, had been vice president of Ford’s global product programs.

In your new position, Ford’s automotive engineers must answer to you.

Barb samardzich biography of christopher

Because it’s typically a male-dominated field, has that presented any particular challenges?

Engineers don’t operate that way—they judge you by how good an engineer you are. It doesn’t matter if you’re green or from Mars or a woman.

That’s secondary. They are so data driven and fact based that they tend to look at their world through the same lens.

You’ve had to move from Michigan to Cologne, Germany. Is