Deborah Wahl and Frederiek Toney join Friends Detroit Board

Deborah Wahl

Global Chief Marketing Officer
General Motors

After spending many years living around the world and across the country, Deborah and her family returned to Detroit when she was appointed as General Motors Global Chief Marketing Officer with a personal mission to contribute to her hometown. In joining the board of Friends of the Children she aspires to help 100 children and families a year break the cycle of generational poverty.

Prior to joining General Motors, Deborah served as the Senior Vice President and CMO for McDonald’s from 2014 to 2017, where she played a key role in the brand’s turnaround, proudly bringing All Day Breakfast to McD consumers. In addition to McDonald’s, Deborah has held a number of CMO and marketing leadership positions, including at PulteGroup, Chrysler and Lexus.

Deborah has a bachelor’s degree in Economics from Wellesley College and an MBA from The Wharton School. She also has a master’s degree from The Lauder Institute, University of Pennsylvania.

Deborah is an active business leader who serves on the boards of Groupon and SGM China as well as several marketing industry boards. She is also very engaged in education, serving on the Board of Trustees of Cranbrook Educational Community, as the lead of the Development Committee for Cranbrook Schools, on the Business Leadership Council at Wellesley College and as an active alumna for The Lauder Institute. In Michigan, she is also involved with International Womens Forum (IWF) and Michigan Women Forward.

Frederiek Toney

President and Corporate Officer
Ford Customer Service Division (FCSD)

As President of Ford Customer Service Division (FCSD) and Corporate Officer, Frederiek Toney has leveraged years of exceeding business objectives, customer demands and profit goals. His experience of managing complex organizations within Caterpillar, American Honda and Ford Motor Company has positioned him to develop an extraordinary business acumen.

He presently leads a global business with over 10k employees who generate $15B in revenue. He is responsible for the P&L of this complex enterprise which consists of Parts Sales, Extended Service Contracts, wholly owned subsidiary, Ford Component Sales, Rotunda Service Equipment, Vehicle accessory sales. On the product and services support side of the business he oversees, Parts Supply and Logistics, Service Engineering Operations, Technical Assistance Call Centers, Warranty Administration, and Recall activity. Key accomplishments include reducing daily operating inventory by $3B over a 24-month period, while serving as the Executive Director of Material Planning and Logistics. He established a revamped Parts Distribution Network of 22 facilities in the United States, introducing new Global Business Technology systems, and achieved record profits in 8 of 11 years. His team also started Quicklane franchises in Europe, China and Thailand and launched the first new FORD parts brand, Omnicraft All-Makes, in over 50 years.

Toney has extensive board experience, including his current role as Chairman of the Board for The National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering (NACME); he is a board member for City Year-Detroit, Developments Centers of Detroit, Percepta LLC and Henry Ford Health Systems (HFHS) where he serves on the Quality and Safety and Finance committees. Toney has received numerous awards, including the following: 2020 recipient of the Black Engineer of the Year Award (BEYA); 2019 Rainbow Push Coalition “Living Legends”; 2007 World Trade Magazine 50+1 decision makers in global logistics; 2012 and 2017 Black Enterprise list of 100 most powerful executives in Corporate America. Automotive News named Frederiek an industry All-Star for Customer Service and Aftersales in 2014 and 2015. In 2014, Toney was inducted into the Huntsville, Alabama-Madison County Athletic Hall of Fame, and received an Honorary Doctorate Degree from the University of Alabama-Huntsville (UAH) in 2015.

Toney possesses a passion for first-generation, early-career development and for providing financial support to marginalized college students. He serves as the Ford executive champion for the United Negro College Fund and participates on the UAH Business School’s External Advisory Board. In 2015, Toney created a $60K Ford Scholarship for financially disadvantaged students at Wayne State University. In 2011 he established an annual Ford Customer Service Golf Event, thus far resulting in contributions of over $1.5M.

He and his wife have 4 children and 3 grandchildren.