Former AT&T CEO will be new chairman of General Motors
Edward Whitacre Jr., former chairman and chief executive officer of AT&T Inc., was named to be the new chairman of Detroit-based General Motors Corp.
GM’s interim chairman, Kent Kresa, will remain in the position until the launch of the restructured company later this year.
Whitacre will take the helm as GM begins its journey out of bankruptcy, with the U.S. government owning more than 60 percent of the company.
Whitacre, 67, was chairman and CEO AT&T and its predecessor companies from 1990 to 2007. guiding the telecommunications giant through several acquisitions and steady growth.
"The appointment of Ed Whitacre as chairman represents a very auspicious beginning for the new GM," Kresa said in a statement. "We look forward to working with him to complete the reinvention of GM and maximize the enormous potential of this new enterprise."
Other new members of GM’s board of directors include Erroll Davis Jr., Philip Laskawy, Kathryn Marinello, Neville Isdell and chief executive officer Frederick Henderson. Davis is the former CEO of Alliant Energy Corp. in Madison.