General Motors Co. Chairman Ed Whitacre, poised to spend as long as a year as interim chief executive officer, may end up hiring himself, reported Bloomberg.com.
A permanent successor to Fritz Henderson, who was ousted Dec. 1, will have to work under federal pay limits while facing hurdles such as ending annual losses that began in 2005. That may make Whitacre a good fit, according to recruiters, former GM director Jerome York and one of the chairman’s Texas associates.
Whitacre told employees yesterday that GM’s board hired a search firm to scour the globe for candidates to run the biggest domestic automaker. The effort may take as long as a year, said Whitacre, who retired in 2007 as chairman and CEO of AT&T Inc., the largest U.S. phone company.
The Treasury’s auto task force selected Whitacre to lead a revamped board when GM exited bankruptcy on July 10 backed by $50 billion in government restructuring aid.
Chris Preuss, a GM spokesman, said Whitacre wasn’t available for an interview yesterday. He declined to comment on whether Whitacre wants to retain the post or would be willing to be CEO on a permanent basis.
Whitacre told employees in a 30-minute broadcast yesterday that he hadn’t expected to become CEO and there are still a lot of unknowns about a search that “may take a year.”
“I’m here willingly and I want you to know that, OK?” he told employees. “I’m not dragging, kicking, screaming. I want to be here and I want to do what I can to help this company.”
That could mean staying on longer than a year as chief, said Sheldon Stone, a managing director at consultant Amherst Partners LLC in Birmingham, Michigan. GM needs a CEO who has steered a Fortune 50 company through significant change, has excellent leadership capabilities and learns quickly, he said.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if we see Ed in there for one or two years,” Stone said. “He has those skill sets, and that is going to be a difficult search.”
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