A former head of quality for Fiat Chrysler Automobiles has a new role atop the automotive division of quality measuring stick J.D. Power and Associates.
Doug Betts, 53, has been named senior vice president of global automotive operations for J.D. Power, and will have responsibility for leading the company’s strategy and operations for its automotive division, J.D. Power said in a release.
Betts -- a veteran auto executive who departed FCA in 2014 and had previously worked for both Toyota Motor Corp. and Nissan Motor Co. -- had been working for tech giant Apple Inc., according to his LinkedIn profile. Betts’ role at Apple wasn’t detailed, and J.D. Power said only that, while there, Betts had “helped lead the introduction of Apple’s latest product innovations.”
J.D. Power said Betts will be based in the company’s headquarters in Costa Mesa, Calif.
“Doug is an industry leader with a deep understanding of quality and design issues who also has first-hand experience with the disruptive forces reshaping the automotive industry,” Finbarr O’Neill, CEO of J.D. Power, said in a statement. “This is the most important role we have in our automotive division, and with Doug’s leadership we can provide our clients with the knowledge and advice they need to navigate the challenges ahead.”
Betts had a shooting star career at Chrysler and its corporate successor, FCA. He was hired away from Nissan in 2007 after Chrysler was purchased by Cerberus Capital Management. He survived Chrysler’s bankruptcy and, when Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne arrived in 2009, Betts was given a broad mandate to improve the automaker’s laggard quality.
Initially, Betts was able to score impressive results. In 2011, for example, Jeep was named the top-rated domestic brand by Consumer Reports.
But by 2014, FCA’s brands had slipped back to the bottom of Consumer Reports’ annual rankings, leading to Betts’ ouster.
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