3M (NYSE: MMM) announced today that Thomas “Tony” K. Brown, retired group vice president of Global Purchasing, Ford Motor Co., has been elected to 3M’s Board of Directors, effective August 12, 2013.
Brown, 57, became Ford’s group vice president of Global Purchasing in 2008, with responsibility for approximately $90 billion of production and non-production procurement for Ford operations worldwide. He joined Ford in 1999 from United Technologies Corp., where he was vice president of Supply Management. Prior to his leadership role at United Technologies, Brown was executive director of corporate purchasing and transportation for QMS Inc., a maker and provider of networked enterprise printing solutions.
“We are extremely pleased to welcome Mr. Brown to our board,” said Inge G. Thulin, 3M chairman, president and chief executive officer. “He is a talented and proven business leader, and will bring valuable insight and global purchasing management and supply chain experience to the board and our company.”
Active in the global business community, Brown served on several nonprofit boards, including Business for Social Responsibility, chairman of the board for the Michigan Minority Supplier Development Council, and the American Red Cross. He currently serves on the executive advisory boards of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Metropolitan Detroit, and Focus: HOPE, and is chairman of the Michigan Disabled Veterans Roundtable. Brown has been honored by Rainbow/PUSH with the “Keep Hope Alive” award, and by the National Action Network as a recipient of the “Keeper of the Dream” award.