American City Business Journals
Ford holds first Memphis panel, gives more BlueOval City details
BlueOval City’s launch team, including representatives from Ford Motor Co. and SK Innovation, provided an update on the progress of the project via a panel discussion on Wednesday, Aug. 17, at LeMoyne-Owen College. The discussion touched on several subjects, with notably more specifics than when Ford first held a panel in Brownsville months ago. The panel included: Vanessa Presson, HR manager of the Electric Vehicle Center (TEVC, the term used to describe Ford’s side of the plant) at BlueOval City Ermal Faulkner, director of BlueOval City and electric vehicle (EV) sites Kel Kearns, plant manager, TEVC at BlueOval City Andy Bianco, North American manufacturing, learning, and development manager for Ford Yisel Cabrera, senior manager for economic mobility for Ford Fund, Ford’s nonprofit Neva Burke, HR manager for BlueOval City’s SK battery plant Maddison Dean, external affairs manager at SK Battery America One of the chief announcements from Ford so far came from Faulkner, who said that to date, “at least half” of all purchase orders have come from diverse businesses.