Speculation is Growing on Possible GM CEO Candidates

Now that Ed Whitacre, GM’s chairman, has taken over as interim CEO and is moving at sprint speed to get GM back on track, speculation is beginning to arise on possible candidates to fill the CEO position. It was made public yesterday that Spencer Stuart, the executive search firm, will he handling the CEO search for GM. While a number of analysts think Whitacre as interim CEO might actually end up with the job, Randolph Gulian, evp/general manager for recruitment process outsourcing and executive search for Allegris RPO, in an interview with the Deal.com has come up with a number of very unusual but possible candidates. During the interview, Gulian mentioned Mark Hurd, HP’s CEO and General Electric’s John Rice. While neither of these men may actually be candidates the possibility of someone big from outside the automobile industry may just be the way to go. Check out the entire interview, Gulian seems to be on to something.

Recommended Reading - GE executive: Reorg will simplify conglomerate

Stephen Singer wrote a story that appeared in Business Week that examined the recent organizational changes at General Electric GE (NYSE).  GE announced recently it would reduce the company into four businesses from six as a way to ultimately increase efficiency and improve shareholder value. The gist of the article focused on the explanations given by John Rice, GE's vice chairman and president of the newly created GE Technology Infrastructure unit about the purposes behind the latest reorganization.  Rice, a star at GE, is being touted by some as a possible successor at some point to current CEO, Jeffrey Immelt.  Immelt has found himself under increasing pressure from shareholders (see earlier blog).  

Check out the Business Week story for a sense of Rice's talent.