Driven to Succeed

For much of his young life, Carlos Treadway ’05 MBA aspired to play professional football. He loved the strategy, the camaraderie and the results born of consistent effort. But when he wasn’t drafted into the NFL upon graduating from Louisiana’s Northwestern State University in 1992, the two-time All-Southland Conference tight end went to work selling cars at a Ford dealership in Mississippi. The job proved the first step in a three-decade rise to the highest echelons of the company. 

Soon after settling into a routine in Biloxi, a representative from Ford Credit, the financing arm of Ford Motor Company, visited the dealership. He immediately spotted Treadway’s talent for connecting with people and recruited him to the position of customer service representative based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Treadway spent his days on the phone with everyone from dealership managers to car owners facing the repossession of their vehicles. He had to think on his feet, an attribute that serves him well to this day. 

“You had to be empathetic and support customers,” Treadway said. “It was a great way to build negotiating skills and make quick connections.”  

He also gained insights into psychology and behavior. “The first time you’re repossessing a vehicle, you’re learning about humanity,” Treadway said. Life in his early 20s on the Atlantic coast suited him well as he began making a name for himself at the office.  

While working for Ford Credit, Fort Worth, in 2002, Carlos Treadway enrolled in the professional MBA program at TCU’s Neeley School of Business.

“I was surrounded at work by young college grads from all over the place,” he said. “All of us knew if you worked hard and showed progression that you could have a career at Ford.” 

Treadway sped up the corporate ladder in part by demonstrating humility, resilience and flexibility, including a willingness to relocate for opportunities. He became a branch asset manager for Ford Credit in Fort Worth in 2001.

A year-and-a-half later, he was promoted to the role of branch operations manager. By 2013, he’d completed stints as a branch sales manager, a Ford Lincoln Mercury brand manager and director of minority dealer relations at company headquarters in Dearborn, Michigan.

While working in Fort Worth in 2002 and thanks to the company’s financial support, he enrolled in the professional MBA program at TCU’s Neeley School of Business with the goal of honing his knowledge about finance.

“The last three hours of the program, we went as a class to Italy and that is what really opened my mind to the possibility of working abroad,” Treadway said. “It gave me the courage to let the company know that I’d like to do an international assignment.” 

Overseas Opportunity

In 2013, he moved his young family to Shanghai for his role as business development manager for Ford Credit Asia Pacific. In China, Treadway and his wife, Kim, enrolled their second grader in a private school that was highly regarded within the tight-knit expatriate community. Now a first-year college student at NYU, Austyn Treadway continues to study Mandarin.

Working in Asia required Treadway to navigate cultural issues and mores while also becoming comfortable working with a translator.  

“China was when my career really started to progress,” Treadway said. By the time he left the country in January 2020 — as the Covid-19 pandemic began spreading across the world — he had become president of Ford Automotive Finance China. The organization employed more than 600 people; he traveled all over the region for the top job. 

“Carlos came in and took the time with the China team to really learn with them, to get an understanding of their culture,” said Jim Drotman, chief transformation officer and chairman of Ford Automotive Finance China, who worked with Treadway in Texas, Michigan and Shanghai. “He’s very humble and invested the time. I saw him continue to grow as a leader.” 

Drotman described Treadway as understanding “the fundamentals of our business. … He’s got the capabilities and the strong analytical skills, but he’s also got strong relationship skills, which are important in this business because you’ve got not only the automotive dealers who are your core customer, but you’ve also got your retail customers that your team has to interact with on a regular basis.” 

Carlos Treadway took his career overseas for a second time when, in 2021, he signed on to become Ford Credit Europe’s executive director of marketing and sales. By November of that year, he was promoted to chief executive officer.

Garry Bruton, a professor of management and leadership in the Neeley School of Business, met Treadway during those China years.  

“He’s very personable, friendly and outgoing,” said Bruton, who has welcomed Treadway back to TCU’s campus to speak with students, most recently in 2023. “You see that in how he responds with students and gives them an important perspective of working up through an organization to become a great leader.”  

People First

In 2020, the Treadway trio relocated to Dearborn, Michigan, where he served as Ford Credit’s vice president of North America business center operations. “That was one of the most challenging but wonderful learning experiences of my career,” he said. “We had 1,800 employees in business centers across the U.S. Because of the pandemic, we had to move them home and get them up and working in a week.” Logistics included providing laptops to employees who didn’t already have them.  

By the end of that year, the company approached Treadway about promoting him to executive director of marketing and sales for Ford Credit Europe, which included a move to the UK. It was a homecoming of sorts: Treadway was born in the London area during one of his father’s postings in the U.S. military. 

Ford Credit Europe headquarters at the Dunton Campus in Basildon, United Kingdom.

London suited him. “In our neighborhood, they’ve nicknamed him ‘the mayor’ because he’s so outgoing and tries to bring people together,” Kim Treadway said, adding that her husband builds communities wherever they go. 

In less than a year, Treadway ascended to CEO of the operation; he oversaw vehicle financing for the company’s entire European division plus two banks where customers make deposits.  

“Our focus has been supporting Ford with the transition to electric vehicles,” Treadway said. His many tasks included staying on top of complex, ever-changing regulatory issues.  

“One of the things my boss told me about the CEO job is it’s lonely at the top, and I do feel the weight,” Treadway said. “There are decisions I make that impact a lot of people.” As CEO, he traveled to all 10 of Ford Credit Europe’s continental locations to meet with his employees, which numbered around 1,600. 

“The best way to problem-solve is to do it in person where you can see the body language and have strategic discussions,” he said, adding that post-Covid such a “connection seems even more beneficial, especially for very difficult or complex interactions.”

In early 2025, Treadway was promoted to executive vice president international of Ford Credit. He remains adept in fostering relationships, acknowledging he’s often “the only African American male” in a room filled with executives.

“Early on I was encouraged by people to show up as your whole self at work,” Treadway said. “I’ve tried to be me and be confident in that. When I do that, I find I am much more successful.” 

These days, he can be found zipping around London in his all-electric Mustang Mach-E. “When you go electric,” he said, “you find the driving experience is so much better.”  

“In our neighborhood, they’ve nicknamed him ‘the mayor’ because he’s so outgoing and tries to bring people together,” said Kim Treadway of her husband.

When asked to offer advice for anyone considering a corporate career, Treadway emphasized traits like humility, collaboration and openness to diverse points of view. His personal recipe for success likewise includes an exceptional work ethic plus a naturally optimistic worldview. 

“My goal is to set a new bar of excellence,” Treadway said. “People do best when they know what the expectations are. The more overt you can be in that, the better your results.”