FORD
08-12-2010, 12:41 PM
August 12, 2010, 11:21 am
A Primer on G.M.’s Incoming Chief
11:31 a.m. | Updated General Motors said on Thursday that Edward E. Whitacre, its current chairman and chief executive, will relinquish both roles to the Carlyle Group’s Daniel F. Akerson (pictured) beginning on Sept. 1.
Mr. Akerson, 51, who is currently a G.M. board member representing the Treasury Department, is the head of Carlyle’s global buyout business, the largest of the investment firm’s four divisions.
Before joining Carlyle in 2003, Mr. Akerson was a veteran telecommunications executive, including working as the chief executive of Nextel Communications and as the chairman and chief executive of XO Communications, where he supervised a turnaround of the company.
He also briefly worked at the buyout firm Forstmann Little, a time in which he served as the chief executive of General Instruments.
(G.M. apparently has a new proclivity for telecom executives: Mr. Whitacre was previously the chief executive of AT&T.)
Mr. Akerson, a graduate of the United States Naval Academy and the London School of Economics, was recruited to Carlyle by one of the firm’s founders, William E. Conway Jr. The two men knew each other from their days at MCI, where both worked as senior executives at the telecom.
Mr. Akerson began work at Carlyle as a senior adviser to the firm’s portfolio companies, at a time when the buyout shop began focusing on bringing in high-level executives to bolster its operating expertise. He soon became the co-head of the firm’s American buyout operations, and was later named the global head of the buyout business in July 2009.
“Dan Akerson is one of the most exceptional executives in the country and will serve both GM’s interests and our national interest well,” Mr. Conway said in an e-mailed statement to DealBook. “He has played an incredibly valuable role at Carlyle. We will miss him.”
Mr. Conway, who is currently Carlyle’s chief investment officer, will again oversee the firm’s buyout business for the time being, a spokesman for the firm told DealBook. Gregory Summe will remain the vice chairman of the global buyout unit.
– Michael J. de la Merced
http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/12/carlyles-akerson-to-become-next-g-m-chief/
Well, this will kill off GM for sure. That BCE reverse Midas effect will kick in. Everything they touch turns to shit. :(
A Primer on G.M.’s Incoming Chief
11:31 a.m. | Updated General Motors said on Thursday that Edward E. Whitacre, its current chairman and chief executive, will relinquish both roles to the Carlyle Group’s Daniel F. Akerson (pictured) beginning on Sept. 1.
Mr. Akerson, 51, who is currently a G.M. board member representing the Treasury Department, is the head of Carlyle’s global buyout business, the largest of the investment firm’s four divisions.
Before joining Carlyle in 2003, Mr. Akerson was a veteran telecommunications executive, including working as the chief executive of Nextel Communications and as the chairman and chief executive of XO Communications, where he supervised a turnaround of the company.
He also briefly worked at the buyout firm Forstmann Little, a time in which he served as the chief executive of General Instruments.
(G.M. apparently has a new proclivity for telecom executives: Mr. Whitacre was previously the chief executive of AT&T.)
Mr. Akerson, a graduate of the United States Naval Academy and the London School of Economics, was recruited to Carlyle by one of the firm’s founders, William E. Conway Jr. The two men knew each other from their days at MCI, where both worked as senior executives at the telecom.
Mr. Akerson began work at Carlyle as a senior adviser to the firm’s portfolio companies, at a time when the buyout shop began focusing on bringing in high-level executives to bolster its operating expertise. He soon became the co-head of the firm’s American buyout operations, and was later named the global head of the buyout business in July 2009.
“Dan Akerson is one of the most exceptional executives in the country and will serve both GM’s interests and our national interest well,” Mr. Conway said in an e-mailed statement to DealBook. “He has played an incredibly valuable role at Carlyle. We will miss him.”
Mr. Conway, who is currently Carlyle’s chief investment officer, will again oversee the firm’s buyout business for the time being, a spokesman for the firm told DealBook. Gregory Summe will remain the vice chairman of the global buyout unit.
– Michael J. de la Merced
http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/12/carlyles-akerson-to-become-next-g-m-chief/
Well, this will kill off GM for sure. That BCE reverse Midas effect will kick in. Everything they touch turns to shit. :(