BREAKING: Whitacre to Be New GM Chairman

General Motors chairman Edward Whitacre Jr.

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General Motors says Edward E. Whitacre, Jr., will be its new chairman.

The former AT&T chief and ExxonMobil board member will lead newly downsized automaker as it seeks a way out of the government fold when the company is launched later this summer, a GM press release says. Interim chairman Kent Kresa will give up his seat when Whitacre takes over, likely to oversee the sell-off of "old" General Motors assets that remain.

The new General Motors board of directors will include Whitacre and Kresa, and current board members Philip A. Laskawy, Kathryn V. Marinello, Erroll B. Davis, Jr., E. Neville Isdell and President and Chief Executive Officer Frederick A. Henderson.

Six other board members will be named with the input of government and union officials. A total of 13 directors will be on the new GM board.
Whitacre, 67, has a degree in industrial engineering from Texas Technological University.