Edward Whitacre, Jr.
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| Edward Whitacre, Jr. | |
|---|---|
| Born | November 4, 1941 Ennis, Texas, USA |
| Alma mater | Texas Tech University |
| Occupation | Business leader Chairman, CEO of General Motors |
Edward E. "Ed" Whitacre, Jr. (born November 4, 1941) is chairman of the board and interim chief executive officer of General Motors. He is also a former chairman of the board and chief executive officer of AT&T Inc. (previously SBC). He served as national president of the Boy Scouts of America from 1998-2000.
[edit] Life and career
Whitacre was born in Ennis, Texas. He began his career with Southwestern Bell in 1963 as a facility engineer. He is a member of Delta Tau Delta Fraternity and graduated from Texas Tech University with a bachelor's degree in Industrial Engineering.
In October 1988, Whitacre was made president and chief operating officer of Regional Bell Operating Company, Southwestern Bell Corporation. Two years later, Whitacre became chairman of the board and chief executive officer. In 1995, Southwestern Bell Corporation changed its name to SBC Communications. Whitacre led SBC through a series of mergers and acquisitions in building the largest provider of both local long distance telephone services and wireless service (through its Cingular division) in the United States. These acquisitions included Pacific Telesis (1997), SNET (1998), Comcast Cellular (1999), Ameritech (1999) and AT&T (2005), from which the post-merger company took its name, as well as the 2006 acquisition of Bell South.
On June 23, 2006, he and the CEO of BellSouth were brought in under the Senate Antitrust Subcommittee following the AT&T-BellSouth merger. Most questions to Whitacre were regarding possible customer information leaks to the NSA.[citation needed] Whitacre's compensation for 2006 totaled $61 million,[1] $17 million in 2005, and about $14 million in 2004.[2]
On April 27, 2007, at the AT&T annual stockholders meeting, Whitacre announced his intent to retire as Chairman of the Board and chief executive officer at AT&T Inc., effective June 3. The Board of Directors elected Randall Stephenson to succeed Whitacre as the new CEO and Chairman of the Board. On June 4th, 2007 Ed Whitacre retired with Randall Stephenson taking the helm the following morning (June 5th, 2007). Upon retirement, Whitacre was eligible for a $158 million payout from AT&T.[1] Following retirement, under his employment contract Whitacre is entitled to receive some continuing benefits, including automobile use, access to AT&T's corporate aircraft for up to ten hours per month, use of AT&T office facilities and support staff , home security, club memberships, and payment of applicable taxes resulting from these benefits, except for use of the aircraft. In addition, Whitacre has a three year consulting contract with AT&T for which he will be paid about $1 million annually.[3]
BusinessWeek (1999) reported that, though the CEO AT&T - amongst the largest and most influential names in telecommunications and its surrounding technology, Whitacre did not use email or have a computer in his office.[4] As General Motor's Chairman and Interim CEO, Ed Whitacre does have a computer in his office and prefers to answer emails via his Blackberry device [5]. It has also been reported that during his tenure at AT&T, Whitacre offered Stephenson three words of advice via text message when the executive change was announced: "Give 'em hell".
On June 9, 2009, General Motors named Whitacre as chairman. He took the position when the automaker emerged from bankruptcy proceedings on July 10, 2009.[6]. On December 1, 2009, Ed Whitacre became interim CEO following Fritz Henderson's resignation. [7]
[edit] Honors
AT&T's headquarters building in Dallas was dubbed "Whitacre Tower" in honor of Whitacre's 44 years at the company, 17 of which were spent as chairman and CEO.[8] On November 12, 2008, Texas Tech announced that its college of engineering will be renamed the Edward E. Whitacre Jr. College of Engineering.
Whitacre was inducted into the Junior Achievement U.S. Business Hall of Fame in 2009.
[edit] References
- ^ a b Washington Post: Long-Serving AT& T Chief To Leave With Huge Payout
- ^ Whitacre's worth
- ^ 2007 AT&T Proxy Statement
- ^ BusinessWeek RESUME: Edward E. Whitacre Jr.
- ^ http://www.webinknow.com/2009/12/open-letter-to-ed-whitacre-new-interim-ceo-of-gm.html#comments
- ^ Chang, Sue (06-09-2009). "Edward Whitacre Jr. named new GM chairman". The Wall Street Journal. http://www.marketwatch.com/story/edward-whitacre-jr-named-new-gm-chairman-2009691038440. Retrieved 06-09-2009.
- ^ http://media.gm.com/content/media/us/en/news/news_detail.brand_gm.html/content/Pages/news/us/en/2009/Dec/1201_GM_Fritz
- ^ http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/DN-statue08_0708met.ART.State.Edition1.4c20cbc.html
| Boy Scouts of America | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by John W. Creighton, Jr. |
National president 1998–2000 |
Succeeded by Milton H. Ward |
| Business positions | ||
| Preceded by Zane E. Barnes |
Chairman of Southwestern Bell 1990–1995 |
Company name changed to SBC Communications |
| Chief Executive Officer of Southwestern Bell 1990–1995 |
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| New title | President of SBC Communications 1995–2005 |
Company name changed to AT&T Inc. |
| Chief Executive Officer of SBC Communications 1995–2005 |
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| Preceded by David Dorman as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of AT&T Corporation |
Chairman of AT&T Inc. 2005–2007 |
Succeeded by Randall Stephenson |
| Chief Executive Officer of AT&T Inc. 2005–2007 |
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| Preceded by Kent Kresa |
Chairman of General Motors since 2009 |
Incumbent |
| Preceded by Frederick Henderson |
Chief Executive Officer of General Motors Interim since 2009 |
Incumbent |
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