Elena Anne Ford, born Elena Ford-Niarchos in 1966, is the daughter of Charlotte Ford of the Ford Motor Company family and Greek shipping tycoon Stavros Niarchos. She is the granddaughter of Henry Ford II. Elena is currently the only member of the fifth generation of the Ford family who is involved with the company and is now Director, Business Strategy, International Automotive Operations (IAO). She is the first female family member to work directly for the company her great-great grandfather founded 101 years ago.

In 1991 the 25-year-old Elena married Stanley Jozef Olender, the owners of Stanley O's, an estate maintenance service in Southampton, New York.

In 1997 Elena was in a dispute with her late father's children by his first wife, Evgenia Livanou. Perhaps foreseeing that there was sure to be fighting over his fortune, Stavros Niarchos stipulated in his will that no one has the right to touch his billions until the year 2009. Two Swiss court decisions have effectively bound the hands of the Niarchos heirs.

Elena is currently married to Joe Rippolone, a local plumber who has been known to "rocked the boat" in the Hamptons neighborhood with some "un-Ford-like" behavior, such as fixing up the house on his own and installing a life-size statue of a Clydesdale horse on the front lawn.

Trivia

• Elena is the stepdaughter of Edward R. Downe Jr., the founder and chairman of Downe Communications in New York.
  
• She is of half Greek origin
  
• Elena is a graduated of New York University
  

Links

Elan Ford Biography