Fritz is back!

[Justin Bimmer]

Fritz is back!

General Motors re-hires Henderson for a $59,000 a month consultant gig.

From Jalopnik

[Justin Bimmer]

Can we get Rick back as brand manager of Impalas?

[Camino LS6]

[hyperv6]

So they have someone to show the new guys were the bathroom is?

[NINETY EIGHT REGENCY]

They are using him to get Opel/Vauxhall and International Operations in order. He was great in the international operations. That was his expertise even if it was not running the corporation.

He is expected to provide 20 hours of consulting a month on international operations and meet once a month with the president of international operations or another designated representative, the SEC documents said.

[FAPTurbo]

Did GM rehire him so they could fire him again in order to get more Facebook hilarity from his daughter?

Because that'd be rad.

[ZL-1]

Can we get Rick back as brand manager of Impalas?

Only for the ones that are fleeted

[NINETY EIGHT REGENCY]

GM Names Henderson as Adviser; Whitacre Urges Changes (Update1)

Share Business Exchange

By Katie Merx and David Welch

Feb. 19 (Bloomberg) -- General Motors Co. named former Chief Executive Officer Fritz Henderson as a $59,090-a-month adviser while the man who replaced him, Chairman Ed Whitacre, urged employees to move more quickly to change the company.

Hours before Henderson’s appointment today, Whitacre held the second internal meeting this week at which he signaled more changes may be coming because GM’s transformation since leaving bankruptcy has been too slow, two people with knowledge of the comments said.

Henderson’s consulting assignment will run through year’s end and entail about 20 hours of work each month, GM said in a filing. Henderson, 51, didn’t receive severance when he was dismissed as CEO on Dec. 1 after eight months. A GM spokesman, Chris Preuss, said the contract didn’t amount to severance pay.

“This is an agreement to provide consulting to the company on international operations, an area where Fritz has unrivaled expertise,” Preuss said. “That is the basis of this agreement.”

GM also said that Whitacre’s annual compensation is being set at $9 million. He will receive a $1.7 million cash salary, $5.3 million in stock that begins paying in 2012, and $2 million in restricted stock. The package required the approval of the U.S. Treasury pay czar, Kenneth Feinberg, because of the federal support for GM’s reorganization in court.

Revamped Board

Whitacre, the former AT&T Inc. CEO and chairman, came to GM in July to lead a revamped board after the biggest U.S. automaker left Chapter 11. Whitacre, 68, took the CEO post the same day the board ousted Henderson, and GM said Jan. 25 he would stay as the permanent chief.

The CEO told workers in this week’s meetings that some parts of the Detroit-based company aren’t adapting quickly enough, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing private forums.

His effort to speed up the company’s tempo includes canceling meetings and telling executives they spend too much time in such gatherings instead of getting work done, said two executives with knowledge of the CEO’s strategy.

Executive committee meetings, at which Whitacre huddles with his 12 direct reports, have been reduced to once a week from twice a week, the two executives said. A session held each Friday to review product development was scrubbed, with that material rolled into the weekly executive forum, the pair said.

Faster to Market

Whitacre is urging product development managers to get their cars to market faster, and as part of his focus on improving quality he wants to see more GM models recommended by Consumer Reports magazine, the people said.

Since becoming CEO, Whitacre has named senior leaders who include a chief financial officer, North American president and a head of sales and marketing; promised to repay $6.7 billion in U.S. loans due in 2015 by June; and said he hoped for “positive net income” in 2010 after annual losses that began in 2005.

Whitacre’s compensation package is larger than the one approved by the board in October for Henderson, which was valued at $5.45 million, including a $1.26 million cash salary. In his new role, Henderson will be working for a subsidiary of GM, General Motors Holdings LLC.

“Henderson’s had a tremendously long experience in international operations and he understands how the system works and how it doesn’t work,” said Joe Phillippi, president of AutoTrends Consulting in Short Hills, New Jersey.

link:

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aFgTje4Nz5H8&pos=4

[daves87rs]

Well.....

[smk4565]

I don't see the point of bringing him back, if he was great, they wouldn't have gotten rid of him in the first place. And why pay him nearly $3,000 an hour?

[Drew Dowdell]

I don't see the point of bringing him back, if he was great, they wouldn't have gotten rid of him in the first place. And why pay him nearly $3,000 an hour?

Just because he wasn't good as CEO doesn't mean he can't be useful somewhere in the organization.... especially since he knows the inner workings of the organization already.

I can see Ed's reasoning on this, but I'm skeptical as to what the end results will be.

[RjION]

New blood? Same old GM.

[regfootball]

now sarah henderson knows her dad will be able to buy her that pretty red grand am now.

no more hand me down sunfires for sarah!

that ed whitacre is a take no prisoners bad ass. man, that's a let down. he's all 'aw shucks' and folksy in the tv ads.

Edited February 20, 2010 by regfootball

[regfootball]

is this a pic of fritz and the other dude surfing naughty web sites on the work computers over lunch? if he's a consultant and not an employee does that mean he can do that?

either that or they are watching last night's idol performances on itunes or something......or maybe PGA golf. "I'm Tiger today!"

fritz, 59 grand to facebook it in the herman miller! fritz checking his live feed........

"dammit, my daughter posted in a rage again! dammit!"

did fritz friend C&G page on facebook?

Does Lutz facebook? He seems more like a myspacer.

Killer neckties, both of them.

Edited February 20, 2010 by regfootball

[regfootball]

they brought back Fritz, maybe Pontiac is coming back! Everything old is new again! G8's from across the pond!

[Drew Dowdell]

is this a pic of fritz and the other dude surfing naughty web sites on the work computers over lunch? if he's a consultant and not an employee does that mean he can do that?

either that or they are watching last night's idol performances on itunes or something......or maybe PGA golf. "I'm Tiger today!"

fritz, 59 grand to facebook it in the herman miller! fritz checking his live feed........

"dammit, my daughter posted in a rage again! dammit!"

did fritz friend C&G page on facebook?

Does Lutz facebook? He seems more like a myspacer.

Killer neckties, both of them.

I dunno if you know what kind of joke you're making. That's Chris Barger, who is GM's Social Media bigwig.

Edit: And more importantly, Mark Reuss friended C&G on Facebook.

[RJB]

What an absolute joke! GM has not changed or has anything else internally, they are just playing one big shellgame by moving around people. Same old old brittle farts at the top. They need to change the sign out front of GM to - Barnum and Bailey Circus.

[Lamar]

Edit: And more importantly, Mark Reuss friended C&G on Facebook.

THAT is interesting.

[regfootball]

I dunno if you know what kind of joke you're making. That's Chris Barger, who is GM's Social Media bigwig.

Edit: And more importantly, Mark Reuss friended C&G on Facebook.

have some fun with it, they don't exactly look like they are productively using billable hours in that photo.

fritz may know numbers, but i can't exactly see him being internet media savvy.

again. have some fun with it. their expressions in that photo make one think of funny captions like they put on those autoblog pictures on their website.

Edited February 21, 2010 by regfootball

[RjION]

What an absolute joke! GM has not changed or has anything else internally, they are just playing one big shellgame by moving around people. Same old old brittle farts at the top. They need to change the sign out front of GM to - Barnum and Bailey Circus.

Like I said same old GM nothing changes, just like naming another car RS thats has nothing to do with Rally or Sport.

They don't get it on the inside and the faithfull don't get it on the outside. They just keep telling you that it's an appearance option. GoFritzRS GoLutzRS

Edited February 21, 2010 by RjION

[RJB]

This continues to outrage me and other people at GM. The guy is making $3000/hour and only works 20hrs a month???!!! WTF, I'm scraping by tooth and nail and they bring this joker back! It goes to show that Whitacre and everyone else at the top still has the same greedy mentality, which is pay ourselves first and then, only then, maybe pay everyone else. If the windows open down at club med(ren-cen)they should shove these people out the window in revolt

[PurdueGuy]

have some fun with it, they don't exactly look like they are productively using billable hours in that photo.

Because we all know that the only time work is getting done is in meetings, with a stern look on your face. Computers only exist for porn, automakers especially have no other use for them.

[regfootball]

maybe they were shopping competitor's websites.

"look at how lame the toyota web site is!"

[Justin Bimmer]

I think that photo was taken back when "Ask Fritz" was started and Chris Barger is helping Fritz answer questions on the GM blog.

[Camino LS6]

And more importantly, Mark Reuss friended C&G on Facebook.

Now THAT is interesting.

[siegen]

That's enough money to pay two Honda executives. For a consultant.

Fritz: "Ok guys, I'm only going to show you this once so please pay attention. You move the mouse down to Start, THEN click Shut Down. I know, I know. It's confusing. Well I used up my 20 minutes for the day, where's my pay? I'll be by tomorrow to teach everyone about Wordpad."

[CanadianBacon94]

That's enough money to pay two Honda executives. For a consultant.

Fritz: "Ok guys, I'm only going to show you this once so please pay attention. You move the mouse down to Start, THEN click Shut Down. I know, I know. It's confusing. Well I used up my 20 minutes for the day, where's my pay? I'll be by tomorrow to teach everyone about Wordpad."

on friday i willl teach you how the power button on the television does the same this as the one on the remote, so you dont make 300 dollars an hour looking for the remote, PS. i will tell you this very complicated and very slowly so that i can rake in my 300*0* dollars and hour.

______________________________________________________________________

BTW almost a dollar a second is not half bad. (Derrick shakes head in disgust)

Edited February 26, 2010 by CanadianBacon94