If you reverse engineered the characteristics of the Ford Mustang to help define the person who should lead the team who creates the car, few people would be a better fit than Dave Pericak. 

As chief nameplate engineer for Mustang since mid-2008, Pericak has led the ongoing development of the fifth-generation model as well as the creation of the all-new sixth-generation Mustang that launches in 2014. 

As a car, Mustang has always been about putting drivers in control and keeping them involved. As an engineer and a manager, Pericak also believes in being hands-on and involved. After earning a mechanical engineering degree from Purdue University and a master’s in engineering from Lawrence Technological University, he joined Ford as a manufacturing engineer in 1994. Pericak has gained experience in all aspects of vehicle development – from initial feasibility studies to sorting issues on the assembly line during launch.

Pericak is not the type of manager to just sit in the office and go to meetings all day long. He prefers to be in the garage, laboratory, driving on the test track or out on the factory floor where he can be aware of what’s happening on the program and help keep it moving forward. 

“What I think is unique about me is knowing how to motivate the team and set the visions, be accessible and involved without micromanaging – that’s a great balance and it’s what makes our team so successful,” said Pericak. “I don’t accept no for an answer, I’m the ‘we will do it, this is how we’re going to get it done kind of guy.’

“I don’t just bark orders and won’t ask someone to do something I don’t know how to do myself, and if I don’t know how to do it I’ll roll my sleeves up and help them do it.” 

Pericak sees his role as doing what is necessary to enable all of the smart people on his team to keep moving forward toward their goal of meeting and exceeding their targets and creating the best car they can. 

“My job is to blow through the roadblocks and pave the ground and then say ‘drive baby’ and then they do it.

“Mustang always had my attention from the first time I laid my eyes on one,” added Pericak. “My 2000 GT convertible was the first new car I ever bought after driving a long series of older cars.” 

Away from work
• In addition to the 2000 Mustang GT convertible, Pericak owns a 1968 Mustang and a 2012 Mustang Boss 302 Laguna Seca
• Pericak is married with two young children 
• Pericak likes to relax by getting outdoors and fishing?

Tom Barnes: Ford Mustang Vehicle Engineering Manager Makes Sure That It Is More than the Sum of Its Parts

When customers go into a Ford showroom to buy a new Mustang, they are looking for a single vehicle, not a bucket of parts and systems. As vehicle engineering manager, it’s Tom Barnes’ job to ensure that customers get a cohesive vehicle where all of those thousands of parts work in harmony. 

It takes a team of hundreds of people to design, develop and test an all-new car like the Ford Mustang from the ground up, and most of them are focused on only a single system or function. Modern vehicles are packed with interdependent systems that share sensor data over networks. Even more traditional mechanical systems like engines, transmissions, suspension and brakes have interactions that affect how the whole car feels. 

Barnes and his team take a high-level view, testing dozens of prototypes on the track, road and in the lab over more than three years before the first car is delivered to a customer.  

“A sports car always has to be fun to drive and put a smile on the driver’s face,” said Barnes. “Our team strives to make the car both fun and functional for our customers.”

Background 
Barnes has been immersed in car culture from an early age and continues to devour all things 
automotive. As a child he was into the vehicles he saw on television such as Speed Racer’s Mach 5, the Batmobile, Magnum P.I.’s Ferrari 308GTS and the self-driving and smart-talking K.I.T.T. from Knight Rider. 

Barnes’ father worked for an automotive supplier, and family vacations were always road trips where counting car brands from the car window was a favorite way to pass the time. After earning master’s degrees from both Michigan State and the University of Michigan, Barnes followed his passion into the auto industry, starting his Ford career in research before moving into chassis engineering and vehicle integration.

Barnes now has been part of the Mustang team for more than 10 years, helping to bring both the current-generation Mustang to market in 2004 and the all-new model in 2014. 

“My vision for the new Mustang was to create a car that transforms the world to a better place for the driver,” added Barnes.
 
His life and passion
• He likes to get outside for fun, with bird watching, gardening, fishing and running among his interests
• Barnes owns a 2012 Mustang Boss 302 Laguna Seca that fittingly has seen plenty of miles on the track as well as the street?

Prakash Patel: The Chef Who Seasons the Mustang Recipe
As the program manager for the all-new sixth-generation Ford Mustang, Prakash Patel is like the master chef who knows all the ingredients in the pantry, and knows how to blend them to get just the right taste for any dish.

The basic recipe for producing a car has been well known for more than 125 years. However, like macaroni and cheese or spaghetti and meatballs, if you just follow that recipe verbatim, everything will taste the same, and that just wouldn’t do for Mustang. 

Patel has been part of the team developing the new Mustang longer than almost anyone. He started as the product planner in February 2009, just as the 2010 Mustang was going into production. The highly disciplined and methodical Patel earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering in his native India before attending the University of Michigan, where he earned a master’s in industrial and operations engineering. 

“I came to the Mustang with a unique perspective from many members of the team after having worked mainly on a series of SUV programs during my career at Ford,” said Patel. “I began this assignment by immersing myself in Mustang and learning what has made the car special over its first five decades and in the process becoming a fan of Mustang.”

On the wall in Patel’s office is a chart showing every powertrain and other major option that has ever been available on Mustang. After helping to define what the next Mustang would be as a product planner, he took the lead of the program management team.

As program manager, Patel’s task is to ensure the project is always moving forward while balancing often-competing priorities to bring customers a new Mustang with best performance, design, quality and value. 

Even when following the recipe to the letter, the best chefs always taste the dish as it’s cooking and make adjustments. Similarly, the program manager works with the teams creating a new car to provide the combination of attributes that will matter most to the customer. 

“I like to think as program management as the fuel that keeps the whole program moving forward,” added Patel. “A new product program has many moving parts, and by having a 30,000-foot view of what is going on in design, engineering, manufacturing and finance we help to make sure that no one goes off on a tangent.” 

While Patel’s approach to his job is analytical, he understands that even a perfectly cooked meal won’t be appealing if the flavor is too bland.

When he’s not seasoning the recipe that will be the next Mustang and making sure that it doesn’t boil over, Patel spends time with his wife and two sons.?