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    As sales falter, Ford hires former Allstate marketing chief

    By SHOOTUpdated:No Comments652 Views
    DEARBORN, Mich. (AP) --

    The man behind those Allstate Insurance "mayhem" television ads has been picked to lead marketing at Ford Motor Co.

    Mark LaNeve, a former marketing chief at General Motors, will start the new job on Feb. 1. He'll try to reverse Ford's declining sales.

    The 55-year-old LaNeve replaces John Felice, who is retiring after 30 years with Ford. LaNeve will be vice president of U.S. marketing, sales and service.

    Ford's U.S. sales fell just under 1 percent last year even though the market grew by nearly 6 percent. The company lost almost a full percentage point of market share.

    From 2009 until 2012, LaNeve led marketing at Allstate. He launched the popular "mayhem" campaign that features an actor who causes car crashes, fires, and other insurance disasters.

    LaNeve left Allstate early in 2012 and later that year joined Global Team Ford, the company's advertising agency. He was named chief operating officer for the agency in August of 2012.

    Before Allstate, LaNeve was at General Motors, where he led corporate sales and marketing from 2005 to October of 2009. He also headed the Cadillac brand and once served as North American CEO for Volvo Cars.

    "He will be focused on continuing to grow the business by building the Ford brand with innovative new digital communications and transforming the retail experience for customers," Ford said in a statement.

    Ford's sales fell last year largely because it closed pickup-truck plants to switch production to the new aluminum-clad F-150.

    Tags:AllstateFord



    Ex-OpenAI engineer who raised legal concerns about the technology he helped build has died

    Saturday, December 21, 2024
    Suchir Balaji poses for a photo in Hawaii in 2018. Balaji was a former OpenAI engineer and whistleblower who died in November 2024. (Balaji Ramamurthy via AP)

    Suchir Balaji, a former OpenAI engineer and whistleblower who helped train the artificial intelligence systems behind ChatGPT and later said he believed those practices violated copyright law, has died, according to his parents and San Francisco officials. He was 26.

    Balaji worked at OpenAI for nearly four years before quitting in August. He was well-regarded by colleagues at the San Francisco company, where a co-founder this week called him one of OpenAI's strongest contributors who was essential to developing some of its products.

    "We are devastated to learn of this incredibly sad news and our hearts go out to Suchir's loved ones during this difficult time," said a statement from OpenAI.

    Balaji was found dead in his San Francisco apartment on Nov. 26 in what police said "appeared to be a suicide. No evidence of foul play was found during the initial investigation." The city's chief medical examiner's office confirmed the manner of death to be suicide.

    His parents Poornima Ramarao and Balaji Ramamurthy said they are still seeking answers, describing their son as a "happy, smart and brave young man" who loved to hike and recently returned from a trip with friends.

    Balaji grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and first arrived at the fledgling AI research lab for a 2018 summer internship while studying computer science at the University of California, Berkeley. He returned a few years later to work at OpenAI, where one of his first projects, called WebGPT, helped pave the way for ChatGPT.

    "Suchir's contributions to this project were essential, and it wouldn't have succeeded without him," said OpenAI co-founder John Schulman in a social media post memorializing Balaji. Schulman, who recruited Balaji to his team, said what... Read More

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