GM to CEO: Here’s your hat, what’s your hurry?

Fritz Henderson last week joined the thousands of people who have been abruptly retired from the automotive industry this year.

The president and CEO of General Motors was asked to resign by GM’s board of directors, and being the good soldier that he is, he complied with that request, after presiding over the most tumultuous eight months in the history of the giant automotive manufacturer.

Ed Whitacre, the chairman of GM’s board, was appointed interim CEO and wasted little time in initiating a significant reorganization of senior management, promoting younger executives and relegating vice chairman Bob Lutz to “advisor” status once more.

Henderson, a 25-year veteran of GM and formerly the company’s CFO (and briefly president/COO), was pressed into service as the CEO last March when the Obama administration forced the resignation of Rick Wagoner, who didn’t (or wouldn’t) see the need for a government-supervised bankruptcy reorganization of GM. Henderson led the company through its 40 days in the desert — excuse me, in US Bankruptcy Court — and was the public face of the “New GM” until last week, when the board showed him the door.

Whitacre officially stated that GM would conduct an international search for a new president and CEO. Don’t be surprised, however, if that international search results in Whitacre taking the “interim” status out of his CEO title. While he is 68 years old and retired two years ago as chairman and CEO of AT&T, Whitacre doesn’t seem ready to enjoy a quiet retirement like most executives his age.

~Photo by Patricia Drury, used under a CC-Share Alike license.