Ford Motor Co. in Dearborn has named Apple veteran Peter Stern to lead the newly formed Ford Integrated Services, which was created to generate and market software-enabled customer experiences across Ford Blue, Model e, and Ford Pro.
Stern served as vice president of services at Apple for more than six years through January 2023 and worked to help launch Apple’s portfolio of services, including Apple TV+, Apple News+, Apple Arcade, Apple Fitness+, MLS Season Pass, and Apple One.
Stern, who started at Ford on Aug. 14, will report to president and CEO Jim Farley. His mission is to gather a team to build out the businesses tied to Ford’s BlueCruise hands-free highway driving system and productivity and safety/security services, including those from the Ford Pro Intelligence business.
The team’s job also will create and deliver new high-value services as well as lead services marketing for certain out-of-vehicle customer experiences and Ford Next.
“This is transformational, because the cornerstone of our Ford+ plan is creating incredible customer services and experiences enabled by great hardware and software,” says Farley. “There’s simply no one in the world better able than Peter Stern to build this strategically vital part of our business.”
Ford is developing connected, digital platforms that are designed to change every aspect of how vehicles function, the way people interact with them, and the value those vehicles provide. The company has more than 550,000 paid software and services subscribers, with Ford Pro commercial customers today accounting for more than 80 percent of them.
Stern says he was motivated to join Ford to help transform the company with valuable and affordable services for millions of customers.
“I love creating new services businesses and this is the perfect chance to do just that,” says Stern. “The auto industry is undergoing an unprecedented transformation, from gas engines to electric vehicles and from human to autonomous driving. At the same time, the basis for differentiation is shifting from the vehicles alone to the integration of hardware, software, and services.”
In addition to running Apple TV+ and Sports, iCloud, Apple News, Apple Books, Apple Arcade, Apple Fitness+, and Apple One, Stern headed marketing for all Apple services, including the App Store, Apple Card, Apple Pay, Apple Music, Apple Podcasts, and Apple Maps. Stern also oversaw Apple’s ad businesses during a period of rapid growth.
Before joining Apple in 2016, Stern was Time Warner Cable’s executive vice president and chief product, people, and strategy officer. He began his career at McKinsey & Co, a Detroit-based management consulting firm.
Stern earned a juris doctor degree from Yale Law School, where he was an editor of the Yale Law Journal and author of the book “Connecticut Prisoners’ Rights.” He subsequently became a member of both the New York and Connecticut bars. Stern has a bachelor’s degree in music and English from Harvard University.
