GM chairman looking to turn over half of board of trustees by June?
According to the Detroit Free Press, General Motors interim chairman, Kent Kresa, has been asked by president Obama's administration to replenish the automaker's board with fresh blood. Kresa said that while the board did achieve "historic things" recently, like renegotiating the UAW pay scale, he also said that the board didn't fully comprehend the magnitude of the downturn.
As it did in asking Rick Wagoner to step down, perhaps the White House Auto Task Force views GM's board as too steeped in the way things used to be. They are, after all, the same folks who backed Wagoner fully not even a year ago. Kresa is interviewing potential board members with an eye to replacing six people, which would be half of the current board, by June.
[Source: The Detroit Free Press | Image: Getty/Jeff Haynes]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
thipps 4:34PM (4/14/2009)
U.S.S.A
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logan 4:35PM (4/14/2009)
Yep...
adam1drift 5:08PM (4/14/2009)
you start with the top and work your way down... thats how all dictators and regimes are taken down... why not use the strong arm of the government to do the same to a company? Obama is a smart dictator...
jc 6:43PM (4/14/2009)
Obama should have asked the union management to step down ,but He didn't because they're His goons.
FSM 7:24PM (4/14/2009)
You right wingers and your cries of communism are hilarious. I will never understand the constant need for your desire to defend the actions of corporate America to the bitter end. Regardless of what they do, you will never speak ill of them. Board of trustees are some of the most inbred parts of corporate America. They are usually comprised of CEO's and other higher ups from other companies. When it comes time to vote for executive pay raises, bonuses, and golden parachutes, they will always crank the values of these packages up, because it is very likely that those same people are on their board of trustees. They wouldn't want to set the dangerous precedent of lowering pay to CEO's and have it come to bite them in the butt down the line. The fact of the matter remains that THESE COMPANIES BEGGED OUR GOVERNMENT FOR MONEY. As a taxpayer I DON"T WANT IT TO BE WITHOUT STRINGS ATTACHED. I FEEL OUR FEDERAL GOVERNMENT HAS THE RIGHT TO DO ANYTHING THEY WANT TO A COMPANY THAT THEY ARE THE MAJORITY STAKEHOLDERS IN. Get over your cries of socialism and go play Boston tea party with the rest of your playmates.
thipps 7:54PM (4/14/2009)
i was hoping someone would say something like this! just watch the video and dont try to say these are not facts.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sawN7uJ8s8s
do you know how to operate and budget you life? or do you think the government can do a better job for you? i think someone is trying to play god. he cant run these companies the people he is firing can and have. if you like cool cars like the corvette and especially the new camaro thank Bob lutz and Rick Wagner because they are responsible for the products. GM is a changing company look at its products and tell me they are not on the right path.
big ship takes longer to turn my friend.
Jei 7:58PM (4/14/2009)
Maybe the entire board of directors needs to be replaced.
If they "couldn't understand the magnitude of the (industry) downtown" wrt the auto industry, they shouldn't have been then to begin with. Did they understand how the economic downturn would hurt the respective corporations they run themselves? Probably so.
It's unacceptable, even for a consumer, to know that GM is run by directors that don't understand the business or how the car industry would be hurt if other sects face drastic financial losses too.
Just like Rick Wagoner, the existing board members are "Captains of Industry", and are expected to know how to keep the company they head afloat in tough times. Right now, they're basically soaking up funds that could be used elsewhere. Replace as many as possible.
dan 9:13AM (4/25/2009)
I can give some valuable insight on the new chairman of the board,kent kresa.he is a very polished businessman frommy former employer northrop corporation. he is the perfect person to take a giant like general motors and in time turn it into a very profitable corporation.in 1991, i was working at northrop and our corporation was dying along with the other twenty four corporations in los angeles county. he then declared war,using his talents to buy up other failing corporations, hiring some of the twenty four admirals, generals that had stepped down from the clinton administration along with a few politicians that werevoted out of office, using the newly acquired businesses through friendly or non friendly means, made some new deals with house of representatives to slowly bring the corporation back from a five billion corporation to the present twenty eight billion dollar corporation, the 911 attack brought himto the white house to bring the new technologies for global tracking with the new homeland security agency
mapoftazifosho 4:42PM (4/14/2009)
I know what you guys are saying, but this needed to happen. Otherwise it would've been another case of failed management that walked away rich and the average Joe gets the shaft...although...this will still probably be the case...
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Sea Urchin 4:48PM (4/14/2009)
TTAC call them, board of bystanders
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Dude 4:59PM (4/14/2009)
Can't wait to see how much the new board donated to the Obama campaign.
Tea Party 2009!
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David 8:04PM (4/14/2009)
Agreed with this. Remove the old, install pro-Obama lackeys, and there you go... Government Motors is closer than ever.
FSM... it's not about "you Republicans...", nor is it that the board is being replaced, per say. It is about "how" it is happening. Today, the CEO and board of GM, tomorrow it will be what you and your family can do, say, read, study, enjoy, earn, worship, etc. Don't think this can happen? Time to read some history. Get a clue!
mr.ed 5:21PM (4/14/2009)
I've sat on several boards, corporate and nonprofit. They tend to be inbred, slow moving and resentful of people who don't think as they do, or have different political or economic backgrounds, or where they went to college or church. I say a fresh board would do GM a tremendous favor, and the faces will be different but the old boy network will pick the same kind of guys who sat on the board before.
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harlanx6 5:29PM (4/14/2009)
You take the governments bailout money, you have a new boss.
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Jesse Isaacson 5:19PM (4/14/2009)
Remove all of them... the entire management too. Do it or force GM into bankruptcy. These greedy bastards took advantage of American patriotism (the only thing that kept their products selling) for decades.
There are legions of qualified people to replace them, from board members to engineers, clean the house.
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jc 6:46PM (4/14/2009)
What about replacing Union management?
Why doesn't that come up ?
Do we taxpayers want a weak company and a strong union that hasn't changed it's ways?
tanooki2003 5:19PM (4/14/2009)
Regardless if some cry babies out there want to cry foul, scream ..etc etc This Had To Happen.
Everyone knew this was going to happen sooner or later. I myself, as well as others, have been saying for year that if GM wants a fresh new take on the automotive industry and to become fiercely competitive to the foreign competition then they seriously need to start by replacing the tired and incompetent head decision makers with a fresh new breed of business minded people who are actually "with the times" and not stuck on focusing only on the muscle car past, trucks, and SUV's. They badly needed new management that had a fresh take on competition, marketing, quality control, research and development, and designing. Seriously speaking the service department should NOT be the major profit generator of a car company. That's just wrong and very poor customer service.
It's a new world and many times it has been proven that the old ways of business just is not compatible with today's business standards. I know this because I own a small business and I make it an effort to always research and reinnovate in order to not fall behind my competition, even if it means reinventing new business strategies.
GM for far too long have been sitting on their hands allowing the competition to pass them by, even their euro partners have better designed, yes better quality, and better customer satisfaction than the American division. GM most certainly did not get in this huge because someone way back then started spreading statements like "the Japanese are better" it has more to do with several years of bad business decisions after another, mixed with bad business practices.
I am definitely all for the new blood in GM because frankly I don't want to see another Enron size disaster where the rich CEO's and other management walk away with their millions of ill gotten gains from GM while washing their hands clean from the company, meanwhile the blue collar workers getting the crankshaft (no pun intended) in the rear end.
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BoxerFanatic 5:36PM (4/14/2009)
The problem is not that the board should be left in place. It is quite possible that they should be replaced.
The problem is that the government has no authority to have them replaced, nor did they have the authority to have Wagoner replaced.
The SHAREHOLDERS BOUGHT SHARES, and they bought their right to vote in the company. The company is not a public entity in respect to government, it is only publicly available for sale of shares.
The government of a free country should not have the power to manage private citizens or their lawful activities. The President of the US is not the President of the company or the board of directors, nor the CEO, nor any other authority.
The Chief Executive of the US only has authority to enforce the constitutional laws of the United States, which GM is not breaking in their operations. If they are, then a Justice Department investigation needs to happen, and charges filed, and PROVEN in a court of law.
Otherwise the President of the US, and the US Congress have no authority, and even giving them bail-out money in exchange for power was unconstitutional, and not in the enumerated powers of the US constitution.
The US Government has FORCED TARP money onto Wells Fargo, and forced "stimulus bill" money onto every state, regardless of State Governor's wishes, in Louisiana and Texas, as well as others.
Who are they going to FORCE their money onto, and therefore their influence into next? Maybe your business...
This is tyranny, bald faced and open.
It is GM's business to do, or not do, and their business to fail or succeed at. Not the Government's, in any constitutional manner, and I emplore someone to show me where the US Constitution shows an enumerated power for the branches of government to do what they are doing. You can't because it doesn't.
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Red 6:10PM (4/14/2009)
"Not the Government's, in any constitutional manner, and I emplore someone to show me where the US Constitution shows an enumerated power for the branches of government to do what they are doing. You can't because it doesn't."
The United States Constitution is a piece of paper; a contract. Basic rule of business:
...Contracts can and will be renegotiated...
WetheSheeple 6:15PM (4/14/2009)
I couldn't have said it better Boxer. This is tyranny and a complete unconstitutional move by the Government. Goodbye General Motors, hello Government Motors.
And to those who say this is the best thing to happen to GM, I say this. I can't think of anything that is top notch in quality or service that is run by the federal government. Heck, they can't even run a fricken train (Amtrack) properly.