DEARBORN, Mich. -

Ford Direct revealed Wednesday it has named a new general counsel and chief compliance officer of the company.

Chosen for both positions, Meri Glade joins the company to oversee all legal affairs of the organization and provide counsel to the executive management team and the board of directors. 

"Meri Glade brings considerable legal experience and expertise to her new role," said Stacey Coopes, chief executive officer of FordDirect.

"Meri’s expertise will empower FordDirect to continue to grow and meet our goal of helping Ford and Lincoln dealers sell more vehicles,” she added.

Bringing more than 22 years of experience to the company, Glade’s career has focused primarily on corporate, securities, intellectual property, privacy and data-use law, officials shared.

Before joining FordDirect, Glade was most recently general counsel to Pacific Ventures Law Group, where she provided corporate counsel services to companies in the digital, technology and manufacturing areas. 

FordDirect’s new hire has also served as policy counsel to the Judicial Council, the administrative arm of the California Supreme Court, and she began her legal career at Brobeck, Phleger & Harrision in San Francisco.

In other company news, FordDirect also announced it has enhanced its product team with the promotions of Ryan Soffa to senior vice president of product development, and Fadi Aoude to senior vice president of technology.

Aoude and Soffa will now lead the development of products for Ford and Lincoln dealers, such as DealerConnection and DealerConnection Product Customization Service, the company shared.

As for their separate roles,  Soffa will head up the product team that develops dealer solutions, while Aoude is responsible for all technology at FordDirect “to ensure FordDirect products have the best technology infrastructure,” officials further explained.

Commenting on the promotions, Coopes noted, "Fadi and Ryan’s efforts have been instrumental in the deployment of high-quality products to help Ford and Lincoln dealers sell more vehicles.

"Dealers trust us to be their advisor in the digital space and under Fadi and Ryan’s leadership, FordDirect is positioned to continue delivering dealers the best technology,” she continued.

Highlighting their individual careers leading up to this point, Soffa’s experience spans retail, wholesale, and third-party operations of the automotive industry.

Before joining FordDirect in 2003, he held various positions in the retail automotive marketplace and at American Dealer Services — a finance and insurance services technology start-up. 

And Aoude has been at the company for more than 11 years, during which he has been responsible for strategic management and technical guidance for FordDirect’s IT operations, as well as program management, business development and technology and process transformation, the company noted.

FordDirect, headquartered in Dearborn, Mich., provides its franchised dealers new and pre-owned marketing services, call tracking, lead management solutions, dealer websites, search optimization and marketing, database marketing, marketing services for regional dealer advertising groups and other digital services.