Former Tower CEO, Ford exec Kathleen Ligocki joins Lear board

DETROIT -- Seating and electrical system supplier Lear Corp. said former Tower Automotive CEO and longtime Ford executive Kathleen Ligocki has joined its board of directors.

Ligocki, 55, is currently the CEO and director of Next Autoworks Co. and an operating executive at Menlo Park, Calif.-based investment firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers LP.

She also serves on the board of directors for chemical supplier Ashland Inc. in Kentucky.

Lear announced the appointment earlier today in a statement.

Ligocki took over as CEO for Next Autoworks in 2010. The startup natural-gas focused automaker is funded by Google Inc. and Texas energy tycoon T. Boone Pickens, but has struggled to commercialize its product. Next Autoworks closed its San Diego headquarters in December and then its Troy technical center after failing to secure a $320 million government loan.

She served as CEO of Tower Automotive, now Tower International Inc., from 2003 until 2007 when the supplier was acquired out of bankruptcy by Cerberus Capital Management LP. Mark Malcolm, then a consultant for Cerberus, replaced Ligocki as head of Tower.

Prior to Tower, she served in various vice president roles at Ford Motor Co. and United Technologies.

She will serve on the Lear board with Matthew Simoncini, president and CEO of Lear; Thomas Capo, former chairman of Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group Inc.; Jonathan Foster, managing director of Current Capital; Conrad Mallett Jr., president and CEO of Sinai-Grace Hospital; Donald Runkle, CEO of EcoMotors International; and Gregory Smith, principal of Greg C. Smith LLC and former vice chairman at Ford.

Ligocki earned a bachelor's degree in liberal studies from Indiana University and an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business.

Lear, based in suburban Detroit, ranks No. 13 on the Automotive News list of the top 100 global suppliers with worldwide sales to automakers of $14.15 billion in 2011.