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Rick Wagoner
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George Richard "Rick" Wagoner, Jr. (b. February 9, 1953, Wilmington, Delaware) is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of General Motors.
ner grew up in Richmond, Virginia, USA and graduated from John Randolph Tucker High School there, where he was named "Best All Around" student in his graduating class. In 2008, he was nominated into the Sports Hall of Fame of the high school. He received a bachelor's degree in economics from Duke University in 1975, where he was a member of the Delta Tau Delta Fraternity.
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Encyclopedia
George Richard "Rick" Wagoner, Jr. (b. February 9, 1953, Wilmington, Delaware) is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of General Motors.
Life and career
Wagoner grew up in Richmond, Virginia, USA and graduated from John Randolph Tucker High School there, where he was named "Best All Around" student in his graduating class. In 2008, he was nominated into the Sports Hall of Fame of the high school. He received a bachelor's degree in economics from Duke University in 1975, where he was a member of the Delta Tau Delta Fraternity. He then attended Harvard Business School, from which he earned an MBA in 1977.
After Harvard, he joined GM as an analyst in the treasurer's office. In 1981, he became treasurer of GM's Brazil subsidiary and later served as managing director.
In 1992, he was named GM's chief financial officer, in 1994 he became executive vice president and/or president of North American Operations, and in 1998 he was named president and chief operating officer. He became president and chief executive officer in June 2000 and was elected chairman on May 1, 2003. During his reign, GM shares have plummeted from around $60 in June 2000 to as low as $2.79 in Nov 2008, a loss of approximately 95%.
The operational improvements that Wagoner helped make in the decade, starting when he was chief financial officer and later as chief operating officer was reflected in GM lead over the rest of the U.S. Big Three car companies. After GM lost $30 billion during a single three-year stretch in the early '90s, Wagoner and Chairman John F. "Jack" Smith Jr. forced GM "back to basics" to battle "30 years of management mistakes" that left him with little room to maneuver.
In an interview, Wagoner stated that the worst decision of his tenure at GM was "axing the EV1 electric-car program and not putting the right resources into hybrids. It didn’t affect profitability, but it did affect image." The effect on the image was that the perception of GM changed from being viewed as a technology innovator, into a perception of the company as having little interest in innovation in a market with high demand for hybrid and electric vehicles, and leading to observations that GM, under Wagoner's leadership, failed to see clearly obvious trends.
In April 2005 Wagoner took back personal control of GM's North American car division in light of its poor performance. In early June 2005 Wagoner announced that GM in the United States would close several plants and shed 25,000 employees (17% of GM's U.S. workforce) by 2008. The cuts will result in GM production reducing output by one million cars and trucks (from 6 million to 5 million). In 2008 Wagoner came under renewed pressure as GM sought financial support from the U.S. government in an attempt to avoid bankruptcy.
Wagoner is a member of the boards of trustees of Duke University, Detroit Country Day School, the Board of Dean's Advisors of the Harvard Business School, and the Board of Directors of Catalyst. He is a member of The Business Council, The Business Roundtable, Detroit Renaissance Executive Committee, and the Secretary of Energy Advisory Board.
See also
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