GM reorganizes board, management
SOUTHFIELD, Mich. - General Motors Co. named Carlyle Group’s Daniel Akerson and TPG Capital LP founder David Bonderman among government representatives on a reorganized board to shape the automaker’s post-bankruptcy future.
The Detroit-based company, which completed a restructuring July 10 after receiving US financial aid, also appointed Robert D. Krebs, Patricia F. Russo, and Carol Stephenson. The US Treasury designated Akerson, Bonderman, Krebs, and Russo, while Stephenson was named by Canada Holdings.
“This is not a collection of good old boys put together to be a rubber stamp for the company,’’ said Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, senior associate dean at Yale University’s School of Management. “It’s a shame that GM didn’t have more people of this caliber in the past.’’
GM also named a new, nine-member committee to speed day-to-day decision making. It includes chief executive Fritz Henderson, vice chairman Bob Lutz, and Nick Reilly, an executive vice president of GM’s international operations.
The new GM is 61 percent owned by the US government and 11.7 percent owned by the governments of Canada and Ontario. Each director who is not employed by GM will be paid an annual retainer of $200,000.
Akerson is cohead of the Washington-based Carlyle Group’s US buyout group; Bonderman is founding partner of the private-equity firm TPG as well as chairman of Ryanair Holdings PLC, the Dublin-based airline company.
Krebs is former chairman and chief executive of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. and a current board member at UAL Corp.
Russo is the former CEO of Alcatel-Lucent SA. Stephenson is dean of the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario.
