January 25, 2010
BY TIM HIGGINS
FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER
General Motors board of directors, hoping to bring some stability to the Detroit automaker, has stopped its search for a new CEO and named Ed Whitacre as the permanent chief executive.
Whitacre, who is also chairman in addition to serving as interim CEO since December, said the board of directors last week asked him to stay on as CEO.
• MORE: Whitacre reels in a new career rebuilding GM
“The board looked at the potential candidates and decided that this place needs stability, we don’t need any more uncertainty, asked me if I would do it. And I said yes,” Whitacre told reporters this morning.
Edmunds.com Senior Analyst Michelle Krebs called the decision to keep Whitacre as permanent CEO a good plan.
“The last thing GM needs right now is its fourth CEO in less than a year. More than anything, GM needs stability -- stability in leadership, stability in direction – so that it can sell cars, boost market share, make money, get its financial house in order and go public again,” Krebs said in a note.
Whitacre today committed to paying back the U.S. Treasury and Canadian government loans by June.
“This is a significant milestone in our journey back to being profitable and a viable company,” Whitacre said of the loan repayments. “The next milestone will be our initial public offering where we can be traded as a public company again, allowing the government to divest its equity in an orderly and timely manner.”
Whitacre, who was picked by the Obama administration to become GM chairman following the company’s emergence from bankruptcy reorganization last July, took over the role of GM CEO in December after Fritz Henderson resigned.
Rick Wagoner was asked to resign from being CEO and chairman by the Obama administration last spring as the company was working with the government to stay afloat.
Whitacre, 68, said at the time of Henderson’s resignation that he would take on the CEO duties while a search for a permanent chief executive was conducted. He told employees that such a search could take a couple of months or up to a year.
Those who know Whitacre said he seemed to enjoy being CEO of GM -- something he admitted to reporters in December.
Whitacre retired as CEO and chairman of AT&T in 2007 after rebuilding the iconic telecommunications company.
Since December, Whitacre has already made his mark as GM CEO, shaking up the management suite, hiring former Microsoft executive Chris Liddell as CFO and weathering his first Detroit auto show.
“I’ve tried to do this like I was going to be in a permanent role,” he said.
Whitacre told reporters today that he did not expect any more significant management changes.
“We’re significantly ahead of all of the metrics that we had detailed in viability plan and that makes all of us happy and optimistic,” he said.
Asked how long he planned to stay as CEO, Whitacre said: “I don’t know. … As far as I am concerned, it’s for an adequate amount of time to get done what we need to get done and I can’t tell you if that’s three years, two years or what it might be. But it’s long enough to get where we need to go.”
Whitacre is optimistic about GM’s future.
“Having spent the last few weeks, few months really, meeting with employees, customers and dealers and having worked with the new leadership team at General Motors and sort of learning this business,” Whitacre said, “I was both honored and pleased to accept this role.
“So, I’m going to do it for awhile.”
Contact TIM HIGGINS:
thiggins@freepress.com.
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http://www.freep.com/article/20100125/BUSINESS01/100125019/1332/business01/Whitacre-permanent-as-GMs-CEO
