GM Names Former AT&T Chief as Chairman

DETROIT – Former AT&T Corp. Chairman and Chief Executive Edward E. Whitacre Jr. will become chairman of General Motors Corp. when the company leaves bankruptcy, GM said Tuesday.

Interim Chairman Kent Kresa, who will continue in that role until the launch of the “new” GM, said in a statement the appointment is “a very auspicious beginning” for the company, The Wall Street Journal reported.

GM filed for bankruptcy reorganization last week as part of a government-aided restructuring that will result in some 20,000 more job cuts by the end of 2011 and leave the U.S. government owning 60 percent of the company.

Whitacre, 67, was chairman and CEO of AT&T and predecessor companies from 1990 to 2007, when he retired with a $158 million package. During his tenure, which began with Southwestern Bell, Whitacre led the company through a series of mergers and acquisitions, including the 2005 AT&T acquisition that created the nation’s largest provider of local, long-distance and wireless services.

Whitacre said in a statement he was “honored to be able to serve GM at this critical juncture and take part in its reinvention.”

Whitacre and Kresa, along with current board members Philip A. Laskawy, Kathryn V. Marinello, Erroll B. Davis Jr., E. Neville Isdell and President and Chief Executive Frederick “Fritz” Henderson, will serve as the nucleus of the New GM board.

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