COVINGTON, KY — Kathleen Ligocki, president and CEO of Tower Automotive, has been elected to the board of directors of Ashland Inc.
The Ashland board now consists of 12 members, 11 of whom are outside directors. James J. O’Brien, Ashland Inc. chairman and CEO is the sole inside director.
Ligocki joined Tower Automotive from the Ford Motor Co., where she was serving as a corporate officer and vice-president, Ford Customer Service Division. During her five-year tenure at Ford she held positions including president and CEO, Ford of Mexico; vice president, North American Marketing, while overseeing Ford’s Canadian, Mexican and export operations; and director of business strategy.
From 1996 to 1998, Ligocki worked for United Technologies Automotive, a division of United Technologies Corporation (UTC), as vice president, strategy and worldwide sales, and as vice president and general manager, Motors Systems Division. Prior experience at UTC included an assignment at Carrier Corporation’s European Transcontinental Operations as director, manufacturing and purchasing, for operations in Western Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Russia. She also served from 1979 to 1994 at Delco Electronics, a division of General Motors, in various manufacturing, engineering, sales, finance and strategy positions. Before joining the corporate world, Ligocki worked for the government as a community development planner and was a teacher.
Ligocki strongly advocates women’s leadership development as a frequent public speaker. She is a founding member of the Women’s Leadership Forum, a teaching and charitable organization affiliated with the Women’s Economic Club of Detroit, and is an executive board member for the Automotive Women’s Association. She has received recognition by Automotive News to Detroit’s Most Influential Women’s list in 1997, again by Automotive News as one of the auto industry’s top 100 women in 2000 and by Expansion as one of the most influential women in Mexico in 2001. She volunteers on the St. Vincent/Sarah Fisher Center Advisory Board.
To learn more about Ashland, visit: www.ashland.com.
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