Elena Ford, the great-great-granddaughter of Henry Ford, has been named director of global marketing, sales and service at Ford Motor Co., reporting to Jim Farley.

It is the latest promotion for the 42-year-old Ford heiress, who joined the company that bears her name in 1995 as the truck advertising specialist for the Ford division. Since then, she has held marketing leadership positions representing regions and brands around the world. Most recently, she was head of global brand and marketing for Ford Credit, the Dearborn automaker’s lending arm.

“Elena and her team will be charged with driving commonality and standardization of global marketing tools, implementing a governance process on strategic and operations matters across marketing, sales and service and leading global auto shows and brand licensing,” said Farley, Ford’s chief marketing officer, in a memo to his staff Tuesday, a copy of which was obtained by The Detroit News. “I know Elena is not a stranger to any of you. She comes to this position with a wealth of knowledge and experience. I fully expect that, under her leadership, Ford’s global marketing, sales and service operations efforts will be world-class.”

Before joining the company that bears her name, she was a senior account executive for Wells, Rich Green Advertising in New York.

Ford spokesman Mark Truby said Elena Ford’s position will be key to implementing CEO Alan Mulally’s vision of “One Ford” that unites its global divisions and brands.

“It fits in with the whole strategy of launching global cars and having consistency in the way we market the Ford brand worldwide,” he said.

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