Posts Tagged ‘GM management’

Lutz Isn’t Leaving

But he’s not going to just be GM’s mascot, vice chairman says.

by Paul A. Eisenstein on Dec.17, 2009

"Why stop?" askes 77-year-old Bob Lutz, who has signed on for another stint with General Motors, this time running the automaker's marketing operations. But he cautions he has just six months to prove he's up to that task.

Unless the Board shows him the door - or his health fails, Lutz has no plans to retire soon. Just don't call the 77-year old GM's mascot.

Reports of Bob Lutz’s demise have been greatly exaggerated.  Just ask the septuagenarian General Motors vice chairman.

It’s been a chaotic month at GM, with a CEO fired, a new Buick boss quitting after just eight days, and enough other personnel changes to require a scorecard to keep up.  When Vice Chairman Bob Lutz was stripped of his duties as marketing czar, two weeks ago, many observers were ready to bet that the former Marine pilot would be the next out the door.

They would have bet wrong, said Lutz, who turned out for a Wednesday night preview of new Chevrolet products.

“I’m happy as a clam,” the 77-year-old Swiss-born Lutz proclaimed while leaning against the next-generation Chevy Malibu.

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“If left to me, as long as I have the energy, as long as I have my health, as long as I have my the drive and ability to contribute,” he asserted, “I’ll stay.  If not, I’ll retire.”  Of course, Lutz quickly added, “I serve at the will of the Board,” and, in particular, the will of GM’s determined new Chairman and Acting CEO Ed Whitacre, Jr.

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GM Reassigns CFO to International Operations

Ray Young remains with automaker’s new management team.

by Paul A. Eisenstein on Dec.14, 2009

In an unexpected move, Ray Young will relinquish the GM CFO title but stay on as International Operations Vice President.

In an unexpected move, Ray Young will relinquish the GM CFO title but stay on as International Operations Vice President.

Long expected to leave the automaker after helping guide it through its brush with bankruptcy, Chief Financial Office Ray Young will instead stay on as part of General Motors new management team.  But the Chinese-born CFO will now head over to GM’s critical International Operations.

A new CFO is expected to be brought on board within the next few weeks, according to a broad hint by Chairman and Acting Chief Executive Ed Whitacre, Jr.  As IO’s new Vice President, Young will now focus his talents on managing the international units finances, along with other duties that will be “clarified in the near-term,” according to a GM news release.

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The 47-year-old executive took on the CFO role in March 2008, replacing Fritz Henderson, himself a veteran from GM’s International Operations.  Henderson went on to become Chief Executive Officer, in March of this year, replacing Rick Wagoner, who was ousted by the White House “auto czar.”  (Henderson was himself fired, last month.)  Young helped manage the tricky finances of a Chapter 11 filing but, shortly after GM emerged from bankruptcy, in July, it was announced that the executive would be leaving his post.

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GM’s Latest Shake-Up Nets Buick’s Richards, Chevy’s Dewar

by Paul A. Eisenstein on Dec.10, 2009

Former Ford veteran Michael Richards lasted just 8 days as General Manager of GM's Buick division.

Former Ford veteran Michael Richards lasted just eight days in his post as General Manager of GM's troubled Buick division.

Even in the “new” General Motors, Michael Richards has set a record for short tenure, the Buick boss lasting just eight days before being resigned.

He will be followed out the door by long-time GM executive Brent Dewar, who was ousted this week as general manager of the automaker’s biggest brand, Chevrolet.

The latest management roil reflects the heavy hand of Chairman and Acting CEO Ed Whitacre, Jr., who has made it clear that performance is everything, and those who don’t deliver won’t be around very long.

Richards’ appointment as Buick General Manager was announced just before the division’s news conference during the Los Angeles Auto Show, on Wednesday, December 2nd.  He was something of a surprise appointment, coming to GM from cross-town rival Ford Motor Co. Insiders say Michaels, a 27-year Ford veteran, left, in 2008, after a falling out with that company’s marketing chief Jim Farley.

Apparently, Richards didn’t do much better building relations at General Motors.

“We’re just saying that he is leaving the company,” responded spokesman Tom Wilkinson.

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News, Analysis and More!

But a source, speaking on a request of anonymity, noted that Richards “timing wasn’t great.”

The executive was hired by former GM CEO Fritz Henderson, himself ousted last week, and Vice Chairman Bob Lutz.  Until last Friday, Lutz was serving as GM’s marketing chief, but he had that assignment – along with most of his other duties – stripped by Whitacre and given to fast-rising star Susan Docherty, who was overseeing GM’s North American sales operations.  Previously, the Canadian-born Docherty was in charge of the Buick-Pontiac-GMC group.

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Q&A General Motors CEO Ed Whitacre

Yes, yes and no. Taciturn Whitacre keeps it short and sweet.

by Paul A. Eisenstein on Dec.08, 2009

GM Chairman Ed Whitacre, Jr. keeps things short and simple during his first meeting with the media.

GM Chairman Ed Whitacre, Jr. keeps things short and simple during his first media meeting.

Though he insists he likes cars, Ed Whitacre, Jr. is not your classic “car guy,” which to some is a good thing.  Trained as a telecommunications engineer, the 68-year-old Texan rose to the top at SBC, one of the smaller “Baby Bells” spun off after the break-up of AT&T, eventually staging the highly unlikely takeover of SBC’s one-time parent.

Equally unlikely was the call Whitaker got from the White House task force.  A one-time top fundraiser for former President George W. Bush, Whitaker was named head of the newly-reconstituted Board of Directors following General Motors’ July 10 re-emergence from bankruptcy.

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Whitaker has little patience for those who don’t deliver, according to those who know him, something he demonstrated, a week ago, when he led the ouster of GM’s popular CEO Fritz Henderson.  For the time being, at least, Whitaker is serving as Acting CEO while a search begins for Henderson’s replacement.

In his first interaction with the media since the GM shake-up, Whitaker today held a brief, 38-minute webchat with journalists, a digital conversation that underscored his way of keeping things short and simple – if not always providing the necessary details or allowing follow up queries for clarification.  Here’s a transcript of the conversation:

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What Next at GM?

Will Whitacre hold onto the CEO job?

by Paul A. Eisenstein on Dec.04, 2009

Can a Texas telecommunications engineer find happiness as GM's permanent CEO?

Can a Texas telecommunications engineer find happiness as GM's permanent CEO?

Now what?

As the automaker dove into bankruptcy, earlier this year, it was clear things would never be the same at General Motors.  But for those who thought there might be a bit more stability once the maker emerged from the Chapter 11 process, on July 10th, this week’s events show that change may be the only constant.

What’s clear is that Board Chairman Edward Whitacre is now making sure that the automaker’s top management team is shaped to his liking.  Fritz Henderson is out as CEO, with the 46-year-old Mark Reuss taking on  president of North America.  The septuagenarian GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz maintains his title, but nothing else, with the equally youthful Susan Docherty now assuming his role as head of marketing.

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There’s still that gap at the top.  For now, “Big Ed” Whitacre, the self-styled folksy Texan and former AT&T chairman, is officially General Motors’ “acting” CEO.  A grand dragnet has, allegedly,  been launched to find someone permanent for the post.  But the Friday management realignment suggests to a number of observers that Whitacre eventually may abandon any pretense of this being a temporary position.

(Ken Zino on the latest GM shake-up: Click Here.)

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