George S. May Business Blog

Two down, who to go? Fritz Henderson leaving General Motors

It didn’t take long for Fritz Henderson to move on as the recently appointed GM Chief Executive announced his resignation today. Company Chairman Ed Whitacre will assume Henderson’s resposibilities while General Motors looks for a permanent replacement. This will be the second CEO that GM lost this year; although GM’s resposibility for the loss of Rick Wagoner is somewhat debateable as Obama’s auto task force did “ask” him to resign. Rumors are that Whitacre and Wagoner weren’t the best of buddies – some have even pinned the responsibility of the failed attemps to dump Opel, Saturn, and Saab on their inability to agree.

Here’s what Whitacre had to say in a prepared statement:

“At its monthly meeting in Detroit today, the General Motors Board of Directors accepted the resignation of Fritz Henderson as Director, President and CEO of the company.

Fritz has done a remarkable job in leading the company through an unprecedented period of challenge and change. While momentum has been building over the past several months, all involved agree that changes needed to be made. To this end, I have taken over the role of Chairman and CEO while an international search for a new president and CEO begins immediately. With these new duties, I will begin working in the Renaissance Center headquarters on a daily basis. The leadership team – many who are with me today – are united and committed to the task at hand.

I want to assure all of our employees, dealers, suppliers, union partners and most of all, our customers, that GM’s daily business operations will continue as normal. I remain more convinced than ever that our company is on the right path and that we will continue to be a leader in offering the worldwide buying public the highest quality, highest value cars and trucks. We now need to accelerate our progress toward that goal, which will also mean a return to profitability and repaying the American and Canadian tax payers as soon as possible.

In closing, I want to once again thank Fritz Henderson for his years of leadership and service to General Motors; we’re grateful for his many contributions. I look forward to working with the entire GM team as we now begin the next chapter of this great company. “

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