General Motors Corp. said Dec. 4 it promoted an engineering vice president to lead its North American operations and that Vice Chairman Bob Lutz will serve as an adviser on design and global product development.
The announcement was made just three days after ousting Fritz Henderson as CEO and naming Ed Whitacre the interim chief executive.
"I want to give people more responsibility and authority deeper in the organization and then hold them accountable," Whitacre said. "We've realigned our leadership duties and responsibilities to help us meet our mission to design, build and sell the world's best vehicles."
Other appointments include the naming of:
- Mark Reuss, who has served as GM's vice president of engineering, as president of GM North America. Before his stint in the engineering department, Reuss worked in GM's Holden operations in Australia in 2008.
- Nick Reilly as president of GM Europe. Reilly has been leading the restructuring efforts in Europe with the Opel/Vauxhall operations and will leave his role leading GM International Operations.
- Tim Lee as new president of GM International Operations, overseeing GM's Asia-Pacific, Latin America, Africa, and Middle East operations. Lee was most recently group vice president, manufacturing and labor relations.
The company also said Thomas Stephens will remain vice chairman of Global Product Operations but will now take on global purchasing in his organization, which will continue to be led by Robert Socia, vice president, Global Purchasing and Supply Chain.
