Harold Arthur Poling, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death
TweetHarold Arthur Poling
businessperson
Date of Birth: 14-Oct-1925
Place of Birth: Troy, Michigan, United States
Date of Death: 12-May-2012
Profession: engineer
Nationality: United States
Zodiac Sign: Libra 
About Harold Arthur Poling
- Harold Arthur "Red" Poling (October 14, 1925 – May 12, 2012) was a U.S.
- automobile businessman.
- He was born in Troy, Michigan. He served as the president of the Ford Motor Company between 1985 and 1987, vice-chairman in 1988 and 1989,and as CEO and chairman from 1990 until 1993.
- He made his mark at Ford's European Operations in the late 1970s and was widely considered as a savior of the company in his stint as executive vice-president for North America in the early 1980s. Poling graduated from Monmouth College in 1949.
- He earned his MBA at Indiana University and began his career in 1951 as a cost analyst in the company's Steel Division.
- Poling made his swift climb through the company as a financial executive, serving as a manager, assistant controller, and controller of the transmission and chassis division during the 1960s, then as controller of the engine division, then controller of the car product development group.
- During this time he was responsible for codification of much of Ford's "Finance Manual", directing his subordinates in standardization of the company's financial reporting and analysis practices.
- During the mid-1970s he worked in Ford's European Operations. In the late 1970s he was vice-president of corporate staffs, then in 1980 replaced William O.
- Bourke as executive vice-president of North American Automotive Operations (the company's biggest operating unit).
- The company was in cash and cost trouble, and Bourke refused to make some of the cost cuts that chairman Philip Caldwell thought necessary.
- Poling was never averse to cutting cost and succeeded in returning the unit to profitability.
- He was often cited as the man that saved Ford Motor Company in the 80's. Prior to joining Ford, Poling served as a fighter pilot in the United States Navy.
- His sometime corporate rival, Robert Lutz, had been a fighter pilot in the United States Marine Corps.
- Their clashes sometimes led subordinates to joke about "who won the dogfight today?" Poling was an avid and accomplished golfer.He died in 2012 at Pacific Grove, California.
- He was 86.
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