08/02/2011

Alan Mulally for Chief Executive Mag.

Alan Mulally was named CEO of the year by Chief Executive Magazine.  You may recall that he  is an American engineer and businessman who is currently the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Ford Motor Company. Ford, which had been struggling during the late-2000s recession, returned to profitability under Mulally and was the only American major car manufacturer to avoid government-sponsored bankruptcy.  We had 15 minutes to do his portrait in the Ford offices in midtown NYC.

 

He was charming, engaging, and accessible but as with most CEO’s he had figured out the few basic poses where he looked good and delivered them in sequence.  The resulting cover came from a single unguarded moment when he was in conversation with his publicist, and seemed the most natural.  Combining the image with a road shot out West opened up the cover and gave it a context for the editorial concept.