Posted Jun 10, 2009, 12:42 AM
|
|
Loving SA 365 days a year
|
|
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: San Antonio
Posts: 3,897
|
|
San Antonian Ed Whitacre named new GM CEO.
Quote:
GM Picks Former AT& T Chairman to Lead Board
General Motors announced this morning that Edward E. Whitacre Jr., the former chairman and chief executive of AT&T, will become chairman of the board of the revamped automaker.
GM expects Whitacre to take control of the board when the new company is launched later this summer.
Interim chairman Kent Kresa, along with current board members Philip A. Laskawy, Kathryn V. Marinello, Erroll B. Davis Jr., E. Neville Isdell and GM chief executive Frederick A. Henderson, will "serve as the nucleus" of the new GM board, said the company in a statement.
Whitacre, 67, was chairman and chief executive of AT&T and its predecessor companies from 1990 to 2007. During that time he grew the company through several mergers and acquisitions, GM said.
Whitacre is on the boards of ExxonMobil Corporation and the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation. He also holds an industrial engineering degree from Texas Technological University.
"I am honored to be able to serve GM at this critical juncture and take part in its reinvention," he said in a statement.
The six remaining board members will "most likely retire no later than the approval of the sale of GM assets to the new entity," GM said.
Meanwhile, Kresa is leading the search for four more directors to serve on the new GM board, who will be approved by the Obama administration. The Canadian government and the United Auto Workers' retiree health care trust will nominate one director each.
ad_icon
"The appointment of Ed Whitacre as chairman represents a very auspicious beginning for the New GM," said Kresa in a statement. "We look forward to working with him to complete the reinvention of GM and maximize the enormous potential of this new enterprise."
|
Quote:
Whitacre plans to stay planted in S.A. as GM chair
Ed Whitacre Jr. says he was not expecting General Motors Corp. to select him to help turn around the auto giant.
But that is precisely the role he will play if GM’s Chapter 11 reorganization plan is approved by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court.
Interim GM Chairman Kent Kresa says the Detroit-based automaker has tapped Whitacre, former chairman and CEO of AT&T Inc., to lead the company once it exits bankruptcy.
Was Whitacre expecting that he would be the next chairman of GM?
“No,” he tells the San Antonio Business Journal in an exclusive interview.
But is he ready to roll up his sleeves?
“This is a chance for me to do some public service that is important for the country and for the company,” Whitacre explains. “I hope I can help get this (company) where we want it to go.”
On June 1, GM announced that it had filed voluntary petitions for relief under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. The company’s reorganization plan includes selling substantially all of its global assets to a new GM. That sale is subject to the approval of the court.
Kresa will continue to serve as interim chairman until GM’s reorganization plan is approved and Whitacre takes over the helm.
“The appointment of Ed Whitacre as chairman represents a very auspicious beginning for the new GM,” Kresa said in a press statement.
“We look forward,” he adds, ‘to working with him to complete the reinvention of GM and maximize the enormous potential of this new enterprise.”
Whitacre, 67, was chairman and CEO of AT&T Inc. and its predecessor companies from 1990 to 2007. It was under his watch that what was then Southwestern Bell relocated its headquarters from St. Louis to San Antonio.
Since then, Whitacre has taken a vested interest in the Alamo City. In addition to the millions of dollars contributed by the company in the San Antonio community, Whitacre has been publicly recognized for his personal contributions to the city.
Last year, San Antonio witnessed the opening of the Museo Alameda with the help of corporate partners Ford Motor Co. and AT&T. Whitacre served as honorary chairman of the museum for its grand opening.
In 2003, for example, UTSA President Ricardo Romo presented Whitacre with the inaugural Tom Frost Award for his leadership in business and his dedication to enhancing the community through personal and corporate philanthropy.
In 1998, he served as the chairman for the United Way Community Campaign for San Antonio and Bexar County.
Because of those deep South Texas roots, and despite of his new role, Whitacre says he will not leave San Antonio for Detroit.
“This is my city,” says Whitacre about San Antonio. “I’m not moving.”
That said, Whitacre does hope to help restore faith in an historic company.
“We just want to help this icon,” he says.
|
|