Harold A. Poling

Harold A. Poling, the Retired Chairman of the Board and CEO of the Ford Motor Company, was a member of the class of 1991 and is a member of the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans (HAA).

Poling is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Forum for International Policy.

According to the HAA Web Site, "Born in Michigan, Harold A. Poling grew up in Fairfax, Virginia, one of four children of an auto mechanic and a nurse. No stranger to hard work, he had jobs at 12 cutting and laying sod, as well as helping his father at his job. At 17, two weeks after graduating from high school, he enlisted in the Navy. Later, after finishing his MBA in accounting, he took a job with Ford in 1951. As head of Ford of Europe, he guided the subsidiary to record earnings. He moved to Ford's North American Operations prior to being named president and chief operating officer, then vice chairman and chief operating officer and then chairman and CEO of Ford Motor Company, the world's second-largest auto maker."