Lee Iacocca Lee Iacocca: The leader who overtook Welch once served as the president of Ford Motor Company, and later as the president of Chrysler Motor Company, which saved the company from the crisis and miraculously made a comeback to become the third largest automobile company in the United States. His indomitable spirit of turning defeat into victory fascinated people. In 1980s and early 1990s, he became the first American business idol.