GM, Chrysler executive deck cleaned out in 2009
As both GM and Chrysler faced horrid business conditions a year ago and lived to fight another day, such was not the fate of their senior execs. Only one out of the top ten execs from GM still remains; Bob Lutz, while two out of the top ten from Chrysler still hold their posts.
GM was hit hard at the VP level as 26 of the top 55 leaders who were with the company at the beginning of the year, including various VPs and divisional leaders, have left. The winds blew the hardest for GM on December 1 however, as CEO Fritz Henderson tendered his resignation after holding his post for only eight months.
Jeff Werbalowsky, co-CEO of investment banking firm Houlihan Lokey, doesn’t think that the shake-ups are necessarily bankruptcy related, but rather more indicative of whats going on with each organization and new the boards of directors. Werbalowsky said that it is even unusual to see high executive turnover at major companies amidst bankruptcy.
Though I do not purport to be a business analyst, one ought to consider that the only Detroit automaker to refrain from filing for bankruptcy was Ford Motor Co. In the past year they lost two executives; both to retirement.
– By: Stephen Calogera
Source: Reuters
