 |
John Francis "Jack" Smith Jr. (born April 6, 1938) is an American businessman and executive who formerly served as COO in 1992, CEO from 1992 to 2000 and then chairman of the board of directors of General Motors from 1996 to 2000.
He later served as non-executive chairman of the board of directors of Delta Air Lines from 2004 to 2007. He also served as member of board of Procter & Gamble from 1995-2008 and also Suzuki Motor Corporation.
Smith was born in Worcester, Massachusetts.
He graduated from Saint John's High School in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts and later received his Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 1960 and his Master of Business Administration from Boston University in 1965. While at the University of Massachusetts Amherst he was initiated into the Kappa Sigma fraternity.
He joined General Motors as a payroll auditor in 1961, moving to its financial group in New York City in 1966. He went on to hold positions ranging from director of international planning to president of GM Canada, president of GM Europe and head of international operations.
As CEO of GM, he undertook one of its most sweeping reorganizations, overturning a cumbersome and inefficient structure created in the 1920s by Alfred P. Sloan and left virtually unchanged since then. Starting with purchasing in 1992 and ending with engineering in 2003, he brought together separate overlapping functions related to the various divisions that formed the company, while also expanding operations into Asia. [1] In this transformation, which included terminating the Oldsmobile brand, over 90% of core management positions were eliminated, [2] corporate decision-making became faster and easier, production efficiencies and quality improved by spreading the lean manufacturing Toyota Production System from NUMMI, [3] and, above all, the bottom line went from near-bankruptcy losses to decent profits. [4] After he relinquished the CEO position in 2000 to his personally selected successor, Rick Wagoner, he continued on as Chairman to see his plan fully executed.
Along with his chairmanship of Delta, Smith is currently a director of several other entities, including Procter & Gamble and The Nature Conservancy. Smith is a trustee of Boston University.
Robert Carl Stempel was chairman and CEO of General Motors (GM) from August 1990 to November 1992. He joined GM in 1958 as a design engineer at Oldsmobile and was key in the development of the front-wheel drive Toronado. He was also involved with the team that created the first catalytic converter.
New United Motor Manufacturing, Inc. (NUMMI) was an American automobile manufacturing company in Fremont, California, jointly owned by General Motors and Toyota that opened in 1984 and closed in 2010.
Roger Bonham Smith was the chairman and CEO of General Motors Corporation from 1981 to 1990, and is widely known as the main subject of Michael Moore's 1989 documentary film Roger & Me.
Robert Anthony Lutz is a Swiss American automotive executive. He served as a top leader of all of the United States Big Three automobile manufacturers, having been in succession executive vice president of Ford Motor Company, president and then vice chairman of Chrysler Corporation, and vice chairman of General Motors.
George Richard "Rick" Wagoner Jr. is an American businessman and former chair and chief executive officer of General Motors. Wagoner resigned as chairman and CEO at General Motors on March 29, 2009, at the request of the White House. The latter part of Wagoner's tenure as CEO of General Motors found him under heavy criticism as the market valuation of GM went down by more than 90% and the company lost more than US$82 billion. He is a board member of ChargePoint, an electric vehicle infrastructure company.
Edward Earl Whitacre Jr. is the former Chairman and CEO of General Motors. He is also a former chairman of the board and chief executive officer of AT&T, previously Southwestern Bell Corporation (SBC). He served as national president of the Boy Scouts of America from 1998 to 2000. On September 1, 2010, Whitacre stepped down as CEO, and retired as chairman of the board by the end of 2010.
Vera Maureen Kempston Darkes, is a Canadian lawyer and automotive executive who was the General Motors Group Vice President; President, GM Latin America, Africa and Middle East; a member of the General Motors Automotive Strategy Board, since January 1, 2002; and held the highest operating post ever achieved by a woman at General Motors at the time.
Daniel Francis "Dan" Akerson is the former chairman and CEO of General Motors, serving from 2010 to 2014. Akerson succeeded Edward Whitacre as CEO on September 1, 2010, and became chairman of the board on January 1, 2011. He was succeeded by General Motors CEO Mary Barra. Akerson was a managing director of The Carlyle Group and head of global buyout prior to joining General Motors. He joined the General Motors board of directors on July 24, 2009. Akerson also serves on the boards of American Express and the U.S. Naval Academy Foundation, and is now a Vice Chairman and Special Advisor to the Board of Directors for The Carlyle Group.
John E. Pepper Jr. is an American businessman. He served as chief executive officer and/or chairman of Procter & Gamble from 1995 to 2002. He was also CEO of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, and until 2012 served as the chairman of the board of The Walt Disney Company.
Jerome Bailey York, commonly known as Jerry York, was an American businessman, and the chairman, president and CEO of Harwinton Capital. He was the former CFO of IBM and Chrysler, and was CEO of Micro Warehouse. He was a chief aide to Kirk Kerkorian and his Tracinda investment company. In February 2006, Kerkorian helped elect York to the board of directors of General Motors, from which he had previously resigned.
Frederick Arthur "Fritz" Henderson was President and Chief Executive Officer of General Motors. Prior to his appointment as CEO on March 31, 2009, Henderson was the Vice President of General Motors and had been with the company since 1984. Frederick Henderson resigned as the CEO of General Motors on December 1, 2009.
Thomas William LaSorda, is a Canadian-American automobile industry executive who served as CEO and President of the Chrysler Group. In December 2011, he joined the board of Fisker Automotive and assumed the role of CEO until his resignation in August 2012.
The Isenberg School of Management is the business school at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, the flagship campus for the University of Massachusetts system, located in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. The Isenberg School is accredited by the AACSB International and ACPHA.
Susan E. Arnold is an American business executive; she is the chair of The Walt Disney Company.
James Michael Roche was an American statistician who served as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Chairman of the Board at General Motors Corporation. He is credited for promoting racial equality within General Motors (GM).
Gary W. Dickinson was an automotive industry executive.
Walter James "Jim" McNerney Jr. is a business executive who was President and CEO of The Boeing Company, June 2005–July 2015. McNerney was also Chairman from June 2005 until March 1, 2016. McNerney oversaw development of the Boeing 737 MAX.
Mary Teresa Barra is an American businesswoman who has been the chair and chief executive officer (CEO) of General Motors since January 15, 2014. She is the first female CEO of a 'Big Three' automaker. In December 2013, GM named her to succeed Daniel Akerson as CEO. Prior to being named CEO, Barra was executive vice president of global product development, purchasing, and supply chain.
James Patrick Hackett is an American businessman. He was the president and chief executive officer of Ford Motor Company from May 2017 to October 2020.
John Gray Smale was an American businessman, the chief executive (CEO) of Procter & Gamble from 1981 to 1990, and chairman of General Motors from 1992 to 1995.
 | This article about an American businessperson born in the 1930s is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |