Distinguished Alumni
James D. Carey
Awarded 2011
Jim Carey graduated from Missouri City High School in 1957 and Sam Houston State in 1961 with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree.
He was employed by Ada Oil Company in Houston the day after graduation. As his career progressed, he was assigned to manage over 30 company-owned service stations from Corpus Christi to the Rio Grande Valley. After a short time, he was promoted to the Houston area.
In 1965, he joined Ford Motor Company and spent the next nine years holding various dealer and distributor field contact positions in Dallas, Houston, Waco, and Cleveland, Ohio. In 1974, he was named the Memphis district parts and service manager.
Five years later, Carey became the national Motorcraft sales, promotion, and advertising manager. He was soon recognized for his successful efforts with advancement to the positions of Detroit district parts and service manager, national Motorcraft sales manager, and eastern regional manager for the Ford Parts and Service Division.
In 1988, he was named executive assistant to the vice president of Ford Division nationally, and three years later he became the national marketing manager for the Ford Parts and Service Division.
From 1994 to 1997, he served as Ford Motor Company’s North American parts supply and logistics manager, in which he was responsible for the purchasing and warehousing of more than $1 billion in automotive parts and directed the activities of more than 5,000 Ford personnel. He retired from Ford Motor Company after 32 years of service in 1997.
After his retirement from Ford, from 1997 until 1999, he was president of the Electronics and Logistics Division for Aftermarket Technology Corporation.
Since 1999, Carey has served as a member of the board of directors and president of the board for the Recovery Resource Council in Fort Worth. The organization provides education for students in K-12 in the prevention of alcohol and drug abuse.
Jim and his wife, Janean, live in Fort Worth and are the parents of a son, Kevin Carey, and a daughter, Colleen Monroe, and the grandparents of six grandchildren.