Board member to take helm as CEO on Sept. 1

August 13, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

Associated Press

DETROIT

General Motors Co. chief Ed Whitacre said Thursday he’s stepping down as CEO on Sept. 1, his mission accomplished as the company reported its second-straight quarterly profit.

Whitacre, 68, will be replaced by GM board member Daniel Akerson. Like Whitacre, Akerson has a background of leading telecommunications companies.

Akerson, 61, will be GM’s fourth CEO in 18 months when he takes over the job.

In a conference call with analysts and media, Whitacre didn’t directly address a question about whether executives with automotive experience were considered for the job. He said Akerson has learned the auto business in his year on the board.

“Dan has been involved every step of the way,” Whitacre said.

“He knows this business from a board perspective and also from personal conversations. So I think he’s absolutely the right choice.”

Bob Lutz, a former vice chairman of GM who retired earlier this year, said in an e-mail that Akerson doesn’t need auto experience to run GM because it has a solid management team of industry experts. But he does need to listen to that team, Lutz said

“He’s very strong, very opinionated, not always right, and needs to work on listening skills,” Lutz said.

“If he can bring himself to trust his now-outstanding senior executive group and lead rather than direct, I think he’ll do an outstanding job.”

Whitacre, Lutz said, had no industry experience but focused the company on designing and building world-class cars and trucks.

A U.S. Treasury spokesman said Whitacre’s decision to step down wasn’t influenced by the government, which owns 61 percent of GM.