Google appoints former Ford CEO, EA hires former eBay exec

Alan Mulally likely to be involved with development of Google's driverless cars.

Google has appointed former Ford CEO Alan Mulally onto its executive board of directors, at a time when the web firm is increasing focus on developing self-driving cars.

Mulally only left Ford at the start of this month, but was already snapped up by Google as of 9 July. It's thought that Google has made the appointment in order to use his knowledge of the automotive industry as the firm works towards rolling out self-driving-cars, with Google CEO Larry Page hailing Mulally's "wealth of proven business and technology leadership experience"

"I am honoured to serve on the board of a global iconic company that is dedicated to enhancing our lives," Mulally said of his appointment "I look forward to working together with the Google board and management team to continue to deliver their compelling vision."

In addition to sitting on the board, Mulally will also serve on Google's Audit Committee.

Meanwhile, video games publisher and developer EA - famous for franchises including FIFA, Battlefield, Mass Effect and Dragon Age - has appointed Ken Moss as its new Chief Technology Officer. As CTO, he'll be responsible for leading EA's Digital Platform and Information Technology divisions.

Moss joins from eBay where he led the Marketplace Technology, Science and Data organisation. Prior to that, Moss spent twenty years at Microsoft where he founded and led the engineering and product teams on Search - which later became Bing - and played a role in the firm's transition to large-scale services.

Commenting on the appointment, EA CEO Andrew Wilson said "I'm thrilled to have Ken's technical leadership on board as we navigate such a dynamic period for EA and the interactive entertainment industry."

On his LinkedIn profile, Moss sets out his main goal as being "to create services that makes people's lives better." His role is likely to include management of EA's Origin digital distribution programme.