John C. Rickel was appointed Chief Financial Officer in December 2005. Prior to joining Group 1, Rickel held a number of executive and managerial positions of increasing responsibility with Ford Motor Company beginning 1984. He most recently served as Controller, Ford Americas, where he was responsible for the financial management of Ford's western hemisphere automotive operations. Immediately prior to that, he was Chief Financial Officer of Ford Europe, where he oversaw all accounting, financial planning, information services, tax and investor relations activities.