“the only thing that nobody can take away [is not a job]”

“The [‘way forward’] plan is a super plan.” “You can't always make every detail of a plan possible.”

Kimberly Casiano, remarks at luncheon, Detroit, Mi, December 6, 2005. The “way forward” plan is expected to close 10 assembly plants and eliminate 25-30,000 jobs in Ford’s North American operations.

Bryce G. Hoffman, “Ford’s fix-it plan,” Detroit News, 12/07/05.

In the mid-1960s, after years of working long hours, seven days a week, my father took his company public over the counter and then sold it to a New York stock exchange company. He was a millionaire by age 36. …My parents always said ‘Get the best education possible; it is the only thing that nobody can take away.’ … For some years, I drove a Honda Acura and every time I talked to Bill [William C. Ford] he would ask me if I still was driving that Honda. One day, I was picking up his daughter at the airport and Bill called me and asked me if I was picking up his daughter in a Honda. When I said yes, he told me he had a way to get me out of that Honda. He was going to nominate me for the Ford board of directors.

Kimberly Casiano, president and COO, Casiano Communications Inc.; board member, Ford Motor Co.

Pedro Valle Javier, “Kimberly Casiano speaks to the Rotary Club of Santurce,” Caribbean Business, Vol. 33/No.40, October 13, 2005, p.41. [emphasis added]

“In public corporations, the role of the board of directors is extremely important, much more so than in private corporations, and especially in the post-Sarbanes-Oxley era. …We are officially there to protect the interest of the shareholders. In the post-Sarbanes-Oxley era, they [members of Congress] have endeavored to create a balance of power where they have taken the power away from inside management and away from the CEO and put it on the shoulders of independent outside directors. …It is fascinating to be sitting at a table with them. It gives me a tremendous amount of stimulation, an outlet where I can help in areas that in Puerto Rico and at Casiano Communications, I perhaps don’t always have the opportunity to. …If they were looking for a token Hispanic, they were talking to the wrong person. One of the things I brought to the table was the perspective of a small-business person. The face of Ford is the dealer. The dealers are the ones that see the customers. A family-owned business like Casiano Communications has a lot in common with Ford product dealers all over the U.S. and the world. …A very close friend of mine passed away from cancer at a young age; I spent the last year of his life very close to him. One thing that became clear was, at the end, he wasn’t talking about his professional accomplishments; the important priorities were family, relationships, and closeness, the food for the soul and heart. That is what it is all about. The rest of the things we do are interesting, fascinating, stimulating, hoping we can make a difference in the world, but ultimately what will nourish us is going to be that which nourishes our hearts and souls.”

Georgianne Ocasio Teissonniere, “Kimberly Casiano: At the top of the corporate world,” Caribbean Business, Vol.33/No.18, May12, 2005, p.40. [emphasis added]