Thinking Out Loud: CIO Marv Adams  By CIOinsight  |  Posted
01-30-2003  Thinking Out Loud: CIO Marv Adams  Marv Adams signed
on as Ford's CIO two years ago with a mission from CEO Bill
Ford, the founder's grandson, to help save the company from
torrents of red ink and a failed Internet commerce strategy.
Since then, Adams has begun to help Ford use IT to cut costs and
redirect its information technology strategy. In a recent
interview with CIO Insight Executive Editor Marcia Stepanek and
Detroit auto writer Paul Eisenstein, Adams talked about his
tenure, the history of IT in manufacturing and new collaboration
technologies that Ford is using and helping to develop for the
rest of corporate America. What follows is an edited transcript
of Adams' remarks.  What's your background, how did you work up
to this position?  I was the CIO at Bank One for four years, and
I also ran a large processing business for Bank One that did
credit card and debit processing for not only Bank One but for a
variety of financial ins