Roy Roberts retires from GM.Highest-ranking black executive aided automaker's turnaround Roy S. Roberts, who helped usher in Verb 1. usher in - be a precursor of; "The fall of the Berlin Wall ushered in the post-Cold War period" inaugurate, introduce commence, lead off, start, begin - set in motion, cause to start; "The U.S. an ambitious reorganization strategy to boost faltering General Motors' stateside state·side adj. 1. Of or in the continental United States. 2. Alaska Of or in the 48 contiguous states of the United States. adv. Informal 1. market share, has retired from the automaker. Roberts, who held his position as group vice president of GM's North American North American named after North America. North American blastomycosis see North American blastomycosis. North American cattle tick see boophilusannulatus. Vehicle Sales, Service and Marketing division since October 1998, retired effective April 1. Roberts, who is one of the highest-ranking and most influential African Americans in the automotive industry, made his retirement announcement during a speech to the Automotive News World Congress in Detroit. His retirement ended his nearly 25-year career at GM, where he initially began in manufacturing at the company's Grand Rapids, Michigan “Grand Rapids” redirects here. For other uses, see Grand Rapids (disambiguation). Grand Rapids is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 197,800. , assembly plant. He left the company briefly in 1988 to become CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. of Navistar International Corp., but returned two years later to head manufacturing at the automaker's Cadillac division. Roberts, 61, led the company's reorganization, streamlining five former marketing divisions into a single sales, service and parts workforce divided into five geographic regions. He was also largely responsible for the company's merger of its Pontiac and GMC GMC See: Guaranteed Mortgage Certificate divisions in 1996. "I'm proud of what my team has achieved in the past year, and I expect greater gains lie ahead," said Roberts in a statement. "I had considered retiring some time ago, but decided to see the reorganization through." GM, which struggled to compete with foreign automakers in the late 1980s and with newer American companies, like Saturn, in the 1990s, rebounded recently to post one of its most impressive years. Unit sales unit sales Sales measured in terms of physical units rather than dollars. Unit sales data are often used by financial analysts when evaluating the health of a company. increased 9%, and the company increased its market share in key areas, such as mid-size vehicles and full-size pickup trucks, by nearly 3%, according to company estimates. GM President and CEO G. Richard Wagoner Jr. praised Roberts for his vision and commitment to quality. "Roy has been a huge contributor to the past decade's turnaround of General Motors," says Wagoner. "When glitches arose, Roy acknowledged them and worked with our dealers to fix them. The end result was a faster and more responsive organization. That's a tribute to Roy's tenacity and skill." Roberts indicated he would be leaving to invest in and run his own business, but would not comment further as he was in negotiations with another party. |
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