General Motors has reintroduced the position of President and Chief Operating Officer with the naming of Fritz Henderson to the post by Rick Wagoner. Henderson's move up from Vice Chairman and Chief Financial Officer sees Ray Young moving from group VP of finance to Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, filling the vacuum left by Henderson's departure. Group Vice President of Global Powertrain and Global Quality, Thomas G. Stephens, also makes the move to Executive Vice President. The new appointees will work closely with Rick Wagoner and product guy Bob Lutz to keep the GM ship on course. Henderson will be drawing on his past experience in a variety of roles at GM. Regional presidents will report to Henderson, who will confer with Rick Wagoner. For now, it's about as exciting as watching a chess match, but GM's moving these people into their new roles with an eye on the company's trajectory out of the doldrums. The newly reinstated President and COO will be looked to as an integral part of the machinery that keeps pushing GM back from the brink.
[Source: Auto News - sub req]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
GTX141 @ Mar 4th 2008 4:01PM
What do we knwo about this guy? is this good? Bad? Doesn't matter?
Ron @ Mar 4th 2008 4:23PM
Fritz Henderson is a longtime GM financial guy and from everything I've heard and read about him, he is a great guy and a great choice for this job.
I for one applaud the move. He's one that GM needs on its team.
Polly Prissy Pants @ Mar 4th 2008 5:29PM
As long as he's not another bean counter accountant/finance guy they'll probably be fine. I'm sure GM wouldn't make that mistake again after all the carnage last time.
Carnut @ Mar 4th 2008 5:32PM
Note that Wagoner (current CEO) was in precisely the same role, with almost an identical background prior (he came out of NY Treasurer's office, ran GM do Brasil down the road, and then was COO under Jack Smith).
Henderson is Wagoner's succession plan. In that sense, putting a finance guy ahead of a car guy (Lutz is too old to be a CEO and probably doesn't want to be one) in line for succession means that GM's future troubles appear to be financial and structural rather than product-related.