Car rental company Hertz has changed up its leadership team, with former Ford chief Mark Fields named interim CEO and previous chief executive Paul Stone named president and chief operations officer.
The moves are effective immediately and come after Hertz restructured following bankruptcy proceedings in the U.S., in which the company accepted new funding from affiliates of Knighthead Capital Management, Certares Opportunities and Apollo Capital Management. The company came out of Chapter 11 this summer.
Hertz says the management changes are “part of a vision for an all-new Hertz that combines the iconic company’s brand strength and global fleet management expertise with new technology and innovations charting a dynamic, new course of travel, mobility and the auto industry”.
Fields joined Hertz’s board of directors in June. He also is a senior advisor at TPG Capital and former president and CEO of Ford Motor Co., where he served for 28 years. In addition, he is lead independent director at Tanium and serves on Qualcomm’s board of directors.
Greg O’Hara, founder and senior managing director at Certares and Hertz’s chairman of the board, said: “Mark’s extensive background in auto and technology will be critical as we remake Hertz for the future. We are building from a renewed position of strength to reimagine the future, and Mark’s continued leadership on the board and stepping in for the moment as interim CEO are important next steps to take us there.”
Commenting on Stone’s move to president and CEO, O’Hara added: “The Hertz board is deeply grateful to Paul for his service to the company during the restructuring process. We were delighted that Paul decided to continue working with Hertz in a senior leadership role.”
Stone became CEO in May 2020, just days before the company filed for bankruptcy amid the Covid-19 pandemic.