CARY, N.C. -

Chris Wallace is right at home with Ford.

The 33-year-old Ford Certified Pre-Owned brand manager “grew up in a Ford family” and has always wanted to work for the Blue Oval. And for nearly a decade, he has done exactly that.

“My first true passion as a boy was anything related to cars. I grew up in a Ford family so I was exposed to Ford Trucks and, of course, the Mustang as some of my earliest memories,” Wallace said.

“My lifelong career ambition was to work for Ford and spend my days talking about and being a part of the automotive industry,” he said. “It’s an exciting and sexy business that stirs up passion with anyone you speak with and that was something I’ve always wanted to be a part of.”

In his current role, Wallace heads up day-to-day execution of Ford CPO creative/marketing plans, plus incentive and dealer communication activities, as well as budget resources and the field training team.

He is also called to manage initiatives with various internal partner divisions at Ford, like the Vehicle Remarketing, Recall Operations, Field Operations, Ford Credit, Sales and FCSD operations.

When asked what he is most proud of career-wise, Wallace said: “I am proud of a career path that has exposed me to a variety of experiences/responsibilities over my nine years with Ford and allowed me to contribute to a number of key initiatives. My experiences have exposed me to our Field Operations working with our dealer retail partners in both sales and service functions.

“I also have experience working directly with our suppliers in a key allocation and distribution assignment where I worked directly with the Ford rollout of Cash for Clunkers and other key assignments which contributed to the recovery of our industry during a very difficult time. I am honored to be a mentor to new hires and am actively engaged in the College Campus Recruiting team where I am able to assist in bringing world class talent to Ford Motor Company,” he said.  

As far as those he admires professionally, Wallace pointed to icons of both the auto industry and college athletics.

“Alan Mulally changed my outlook on industry/business even prior to coming to Ford. His passion, optimism and commitment to excellence in everything he did was something I admired during his time at Boeing and then also at Ford through one of the most challenging and yet successful corporate turn-arounds of all time,” Wallace said.

“His approach to day-to-day process discipline and having compassion for others was contagious and revolutionary. I also admire coaches Mark Dantonio and Tom Izzo for what they have done with my beloved Michigan State Spartans football and basketball programs,” he said. “Commitment to excellence and an adherence to true process discipline drives results and a culture of winning to which I fully subscribe.”

Chris Wallace, 33, is the Ford Certified Pre-Owned brand manager at Ford Motor Co.

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