San Antonian Ed Whitacre named new GM CEO.

sirkingwilliam · #1 Posted **Jun 10, 2009, 12:42 AM**

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.

adtobias · #2 Posted **Jun 10, 2009, 3:56 AM**

Some people can put sa back on the map. He is one of them

sirkingwilliam · #3 Posted **Jun 10, 2009, 6:42 AM**

Are we currently off the map?

detmsp · #4 Posted **Jun 10, 2009, 6:49 AM**

not to be nitpicky.... but he's not going to be CEO, he'll be chairman of the board.

oldmanshirt · #5 Posted **Jun 10, 2009, 1:33 PM**

Great, maybe GM will relocate to SA now

That's a joke, btw

miaht82 · #6 Posted **Jun 10, 2009, 1:45 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by oldmanshirt

Great, maybe GM will relocate to SA now

That's a joke, btw

They are??

*this is how rumors get started you know.*

Keep-SA-Lame · #7 Posted **Jun 10, 2009, 2:52 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by sirkingwilliam

Are we currently off the map?

lol

sakyle04 · #8 Posted **Jun 10, 2009, 4:01 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by detmsp

not to be nitpicky.... but he's not going to be CEO, he'll be chairman of the board.

Chairman may be bigger.

Around San Antonio (and in the Energy business at large), everyone knows NuStar's Chairman (Bill Greehey) but no one can name our President and CEO.

sirkingwilliam · #9 Posted **Jun 10, 2009, 5:17 PM**

You're right and I knew that when posting the articles but I guess tjust thinking of him as the CEO for so long caused me to type that without even second guessing.

Could someone fix that. Chairman instead of CEO.

hookem · #10 Posted **Jun 10, 2009, 7:55 PM**

He also is a Texas Tech grad... lots of Texas roots. here's another good article about him from Bloomberg (currently linked off Drudge Report):

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...d=aQ._YJhEj_Jo

Besides the article's somewhat inflammatory title and initial premise, could this passage be lightly suggesting the possibility of moving some part of GM to Texas or SA?

Quote:

Whitacre, a resident of San Antonio, a South Texas city of 1.2 million, will set a different cultural and geographic tone at GM, said Kahan and Ellis, the former AT&T executives.

Detroit is 1,237 miles to the northeast, almost twice as far as to Mexico City. While GM’s only Texas assembly plant is in Arlington, a five-hour drive, San Antonio is home to a pickup factory for Toyota Motor Corp., which ended GM’s 77-year reign as the world’s largest automaker in 2008 and beat GM in adopting new models such as hybrids.

As a “man of action,” Whitacre won’t sit still, Kahan said. “He doesn’t like long meetings,” Kahan said. “He’ll be fresh air.”

oldmanshirt · #11 Posted **Jun 10, 2009, 10:15 PM**

Wait wait wait, so SA is well known enough that it appears on the dateline as just "San Antonio", without "TX" behind it, something that primary cities in many larger metropolitan areas can't say, and yet Bloomberg has to describe it as "a South Texas city of 1.2 million"?

Weird

Also, I love what Whitacre said: "I don't know anything about cars...but I know about big companies." Nothing against Whitacre, because SA owes him a lot, but it seems to me that one of the things that got GM in trouble in the first place was being run by people who didn't know anything about cars.

hookem · #12 Posted **Jun 11, 2009, 12:31 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by oldmanshirt

Also, I love what Whitacre said: "I don't know anything about cars...but I know about big companies." Nothing against Whitacre, because SA owes him a lot, but it seems to me that one of the things that got GM in trouble in the first place was being run by people who didn't know anything about cars.

Actually, the article states that GM was always run by industry insiders except for a brief period from 92-95. The question I would have is, did Whitacre have telecom experience before turning around SWBT/AT&T? His degree is in Industrial Engineering. Perhaps his not being an insider in the auto industry is actually a plus, since their business model seemed so screwed up.

oldmanshirt · #13 Posted **Jun 11, 2009, 2:47 AM**

^^^Maybe it is a good thing, but I'm not so sure GM needs to think of itself as a big company right now anyway. Regardless of what the article said, from the 80s onward (and maybe before that), GM was ruled by bean counters who cared more about squeezing every penny out their product than actually building a quality product. That's why you saw several brands built from single platforms with the same 50 year old engine technology, all wrapped in bland, shapeless, focus-group derived styling. There were exceptions, of course, like the Corvette, Impala SS, Buick GNX, but those were usually designed under the purview of small teams of enthusiasts, and in many cases were disguised in the books so as to escape the axes of the accountants.

I don't wish any ill will towards Whitacre, and I hope under his tenure that GM can succeed. And hey, at least he's honest about his limitations.

detmsp · #14 Posted **Jun 12, 2009, 1:10 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by sakyle04

Chairman may be bigger.

Around San Antonio (and in the Energy business at large), everyone knows NuStar's Chairman (Bill Greehey) but no one can name our President and CEO.

that may be true, but it still doesn't make it a true statement that whitacre is the new CEO. Would you call Obama the vice president?