A former CEO and chairman of telecommunications giant AT&T Inc. will lead General Motors Corp.‘s board after it emerges from bankruptcy protection, GM said Tuesday.
Edward Whitacre Jr., 67, eventually will replace Kent Kresa, who will remain GM’s interim chairman until the reorganized automaker emerges as a new company that’s majority-owned by the U.S. government.
Whitacre was chairman and chief executive of AT&T and its predecessor companies from 1990 to 2007. During his tenure, he led the company through several acquisitions and sales. The Associated Press
His appointment comes amid a government-ordered overhaul of GM’s board of directors.
Interim Chairman Kent Kresa, charged with recruiting new board members, said Mr. Whitacre had been under consideration since the end of March, when the Obama administration ousted Rick Wagoner as GM’s chairman and chief executive officer.
Mr. Whitacre, in a statement, said he was “honored to be able to serve GM at this critical juncture and take part in its reinvention.”
“This is a guy who was very innovative, and who took a company that had a lot of advanced technology and merged it with a company that didn’t have a lot,” Mr. Kresa said, referring to SBC Communications Inc.‘s acquisition of AT&T in 2005. The merged company took AT&T’s name. Wall Street Journal
“The appointment of Ed Whitacre as chairman represents a very auspicious beginning for the New GM,” Kresa said in the statement. “We look forward to working with him to complete the reinvention of GM and maximize the enormous potential of this new enterprise.” The Associated Press
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