Rich Strader is Vice President, Mobility Platforms and Products, Ford Motor Company. In this role, Strader oversees Ford Mobility’s product solutions group, which is responsible for leading the design and development of the technology underpinning Ford’s mobility business. That includes development related to connectivity, the FordPass platform, vehicle management as a service, and transportation as a service.
Since joining Ford in 1992, Strader has held a number of information technology positions. He served as Ford’s director of Enterprise and Emerging IT, where he was responsible for a portfolio that included Innovation, Connected Vehicle, Connected Consumer, Autonomous Vehicle, Mobility Solutions, and Data Insight & Analytics.
Additionally, Strader served as the head of Ford’s Technology Services India centre in Chennai, India, where he oversaw application development, shared services and program delivery within the Asia Pacific region. He was also chief information officer for Volvo Car Corporation, with responsibility for overall IT operations, including infrastructure, operations, maintenance, new development, new ventures (divestitures and acquisitions) and associated financial and personnel activities.
As manager of In-Vehicle Systems, Strader launched the SYNC Service Delivery Network and all the IT infrastructure used to support the first two generations of the software platform.
Prior to joining Ford, Strader was the president of Applied Processing Systems, Inc. He also held software programming positions at other outside businesses.
Strader earned his Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering at the University of Michigan.