Chantel Lenard
Chantel Lenard is an internationally experienced marketing executive who joined the faculty of University of Michigan's Ross School of Business in 2017. Prior to joining Ross, Ms. Lenard was the top marketing executive for Ford Motor Company's U.S. operations, with overall responsibility for all aspects of Ford's U.S. marketing strategy and execution, including brand development, consumer and market insight, product positioning, pricing, marketing communications, and retail promotions.
Ms. Lenard held a number of key marketing positions during her 25 years with Ford, including serving as Vice President of Marketing for Ford's Asia Pacific and Africa (APA) region, based in Shanghai, China. While in APA, Ms. Lenard oversaw the launch of many new vehicles across eleven diverse markets, including South Africa, India, China, ASEAN, and Australia. In addition to marketing, Lenard also held leadership positions with Ford in sales, strategy, finance and purchasing, and spent a great deal of time working with the product development organization. Her cross-functional experiences made her particularly effective at understanding the enterprise-wide implications of decisions and opportunities, and at building consensus across functions.
Ms. Lenard is also an experienced public company board director. She presently serves on the boards of TTM Technologies (NASDAQ: TTMI), LSI Industries (NASDAQ: LYTS), and Charge Enterprises (NASDAQ: CRGE) Her past board service includes serving as a director of Uni-Select, Inc. (TSX: UNS), six years as a board director for DFCU Financial, and 4 years on the board of the Association of National Advertisers.
During her career, Lenard received a number of awards, including being selected as one of the "100 Leading Women in the Automotive Industry" by Automotive News, and receiving the "Outstanding Industrial Engineering Alumni" award from Purdue University. She also received an Effie Gold Award for the innovative "Fiesta Movement" marketing initiative, and was recognized as a "Rising Star" by Automotive News and a "Woman to Watch" by Ad Age and Brand Innovators.
Since joining Ross, Ms. Lenard has taught Marketing Strategy in the Executive, Weekend, and Full-Time MBA programs, and Marketing Management in the BBA program. She also serves as a faculty advisor for ExecMAP and FTMBA MAP. In 2021 and 2023 she was selected by the graduating WMBA and EMBA classes, respectively, to receive the Neary Teaching Excellence Award.
Lenard graduated from Purdue University with a Bachelor's degree in Industrial Engineering, and a Master of Business Administration degree from Harvard University, both with highest distinction. Ms. Lenard enjoys reading, fitness activities, and spending time with her husband and two daughters. She is passionate about developing future leaders, and is energized by using her experience to help students learn and grow.
