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Heiress Elena Ford has been elected a vice president in the company that her great-great grandfather Henry Ford founded and becomes the first female Ford family member to hold a significant position at the automaker. The last time a family member was made a corporate officer was in with the appointment of cousin Bill Ford, then vice president of commercial trucks.

He rose up the ranks to become chairman, president and CEO before recruiting Alan Mulally in to oversee daily operations and becoming executive chairman. Both Bill and cousin Edsel Ford are on the board of directors of the company controlled by family members who hold veto power with Class B voting shares. Elena Ford's new position, effective March 1, brings to 38 the number of corporate officers running the company.

That is fewer than the 50 corporate officers in before operations were downsized. Elena Ford, 46, will run the new global dealer and consumer experience organization to standardize best practices for Ford's brands around the world.

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In her new role, she'll oversee global dealer strategy, planning, training and consumer experience, reporting to Jim Farley, executive vice president in charge of global marketing, sales, service and Lincoln. She'll establish global standards and best practices as Ford expands globally, including plans to introduce the Lincoln brand in China next year.

She'll also work to improve vehicle quality, which has suffered in recent years, and delivery time of vehicles from the factory to the dealer and to the customer. Various IT systems around the world will be streamlined into a more efficient global order and delivery process.