A top automotive analyst has said she was not surprised General Motors had opted to retain Ed Whiteacre in the combined roles of chairman and CEO, although more middle managerial changes were expected.
Whiteacre earlier this week confirmed the GM board had requested him to stay on, although he batted away questions about who else might have been tapped for the CEO slot.
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“I don’t think anybody is really surprised he took the chairman and CEO position,” IHS Global Insight automotive group director Rebecca Lindland told just-auto from Boston.
“He has traditionally held chairman and CEO positions at some time in his past life in telecommunications with SouthWest Bell and then AT&T. He is definitely used to the high profile…I think he buys the company some stability.”
Predicting further managerial shuffling,“by his own admission”, Lindland added Whiteacre was not familiar with the industry but that he “understands GM’s project as a company. He knows what he knows and he knows what he doesn’t know, which is almost more important.”
Lindland said Whiteacre’s length of tenure in his dual role at GM was hard to predict, noting his view he would be there as long as it takes “is a very typical answer to a question. He doesn’t really allow you to debate.”
Whiteacre brings business and public relations acumen to the role, said Lindland, noting this would be important in paying back the federal TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Programme) loan ahead of an IPO.
“We know that his ultimate goal is that IPO so keeping your eyes on that prize means eliminating barriers and TARP is one of those barriers,” she said. Whiteacre reiterated at the press conference GM’s intention to repay $6.7bn in US and Canadian federal and provincial government loans by June.
