The Treasury Department named four more directors to represent its 60 percent stake in the automaker. They are Daniel F. Akerson, managing director of the private equity firm Carlyle Group; David Bonderman, co-founding partner of TPG Capital; Robert D. Krebs, retired chairman and chief executive of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad; and Patricia F. Russo, former chief executive of the telecommunications company Alcatel-Lucent. The Treasury has appointed a total of 10 members to the new G.M. board.
Carol Stephenson, dean of the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario, will represent the Canadian government, which owns 11.7 percent.
They will join eight others on the board, including the recently appointed chairman, Edward E. Whitacre Jr., and G.M.’s chief executive, Fritz Henderson. Each member who is not a G.M. employee will be paid a cash retainer of $200,000 a year. Mr. Whitacre will be paid at least $350,000.
Several of the new directors, including Mr. Whitacre, the former chairman of AT&T, have experience in the telecommunications industry but none have automotive backgrounds. The Obama administration wanted nearly a clean slate of directors to ensure that the company would move away from practices that led to its downfall and last month’s bankruptcy filing.
“The members of this new board of directors bring immense experience and diverse perspectives to the table, and that’s exactly what G.M. needs,” Mr. Whitacre said in a statement. “The collective expertise of the new B.O.D. is vital at this time as G.M. seeks to redefine itself as the vehicle design and customer care leader of the extremely competitive auto business.”
Who needs experience with cars anyway?
0 comments:
Post a Comment