Since 1998, Batty has been in charge of establishing Ford's commercial and manufacturing operations in Russia and the CIS, including the launch of the company's largest venture there yet, a US$150 million Ford Focus assembly plant outside of St. Petersburg that is slated to assemble its first vehicles in October. With this project moving ahead, launching on time and on budget, Ford Motor Company will have the first vehicle assembly plant of any major global automaker in Russia.
Prior to his assignment in Russia and the CIS, Batty served in a number of key marketing and sales functions, including general sales manager in France, where he started his Ford career in 1977. Batty also served as managing director of Ford operations in Spain, Portugal, Belgium and Luxembourg from 1992 to 1995. During his time in Spain, Ford became the country's top automotive brand.
In 1995 he was appointed executive director of Ford's large, 14-nation Asia-Pacific and New Markets region. Under Batty's leadership, operations in Taiwan, New Zealand and Australia achieved record profits. He oversaw the creation of an integrated service, sales and marketing organization within the region, and successfully merged Ford's operations in New Zealand and Australia.
Batty described his time in Canada during the 1970s as among "the best years of my life." Batty earned a bachelor's degree in administration at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales de Montreal, one of the Canada's leading business schools, worked briefly with a government agency and met his future wife, Canadian-born Ginette Audet. He said that his family's return to Canada "will be a very emotional event, particularly as Ginette's family resides in northern Quebec."