Chrysler-Fiat deal brings job promotions for execs
Now that Italian automaker Fiat is the owner of most of Chrysler LLC’s assets, several of Chrysler’s executives received job promotions with the newly formed company.
Fiat and Chrysler closed a deal today to transfer assets to a new company called Chrysler Group LLC. Operations of the new organization began immediately.
Jim Press, who served as Chrysler’s vice chairman and president, now is the deputy chief executive and adviser. He will report directly to Sergio Marchionne, Fiat’s chief executive who was named chief executive of the new company.
Other promotions include:
- Richard Palmer, now senior vice president and chief financial officer, replacing Ron Kolka. He was the chief financial officer for Fiat Group Automobiles.
- Peter Fong, now president and chief executive of the Chrysler brand and lead executive for sales. He recently was director of Chrysler’s Mid-Atlantic Business Center.
- Michael Manley, now president and chief executive of the Jeep brand and lead executive of company-wide product planning. He was executive vice president of international sales and global product planning operations.
- Michael Accavitti, now president and chief executive of the Dodge brand and lead executive of marketing for Chrysler Group LLC. He was director of Dodge brand marketing.
- Peter Grady, now the vice president in charge of fleet sales and the company’s restructured, smaller dealer network. He was director of franchise planning and administration.
- Scott Kunselman, now senior vice president in charge of product engineering and product development strategy. He replaces Frank Klegon, who will retire. Kunselman was vice president of the truck product team.
Steven Landry — Chrysler’s executive vice president of North American sales and marketing, global service and parts — also plans to retire but has offered to help with Chrysler Group LLC’s transition.
If any of these “gentlemen” have been around Mopar Central for any length of time and have obviously contributed to the SLOP that they disguise as vehicles for the public to purchase, then Fiat has doomed itself to failure.
Jim Press came over from a long career at Toyota when Cerberus bought them two years ago. Chrysler’s fate was already sealed. Clearly, Fiat seems to hold him in high regard given his new role.
Of course, promote those who hold positions who already make too much money. That is partly why the automakers went bankrupt to begin with!
Ok whatever your name is who commented last. When execs decide to leave the company they don’t replace them with people who work in the factories just so they can make a lot of money, they replace them with people who have experience in running several different teams of people at once. Since Bob Nardelli, Tom LaSorda, Frank Klegon, and Steve Landry have decided to leave the company and/or retire, they will need experienced replacements who have been part of the company. Scott Kunselman and Peter Grady are being promoted because they are one step below Klegon and Landry. Also these are not stress free jobs, not everyone can handle the amount of pressure, Marchionne is promoting them because he believes they can.
Ok - lesson learned. I should have grown up to be either an American auto company executive or banker. What was I thinking?
I will preach to my kids to grow up into these professions, drive the companies into the ground, and they will achieve financial dominance over the hard-working little workers.
proud to be an american
Thats the Ticket !!! Promote the morons that were steering the boat into the iceberg. Lets see, promote the incompetent dead beats that sat around up at CTC and just watched the company implode and kept business as usual going. FIAT SHOULD CLEAN HOUSE. Start with some young dynamic individuals willing to kick some butt and get that company straightened OUT.
But the focus is the good ole boy network. CRASH AND BURN. WHAT A PATHETIC JOB TO START. HOW LONG UNTIL THE HAND IS OUT FOR MORE MONEY? 3 OR 4 MONTHS IS MY ANSWER.
Now FIAT owns Chrysler. What did they pay for it? U.S. taxpayer dollars?
They promote inept individuals who sat around CTC getting haircuts and working out in the gym.
Why NOT clean house and start with some aggressive out of work auto industry personnel who have actual in PLANT experience and knowledge of how to make the equipment run, and fix it when it breaks?
Because it makes TOO much sense.
Go Fiat Go, right back to the handout window in a few months. YEA.
while its not good to see the “good ole boys” getting promoted, most people just dont get it. Positions like that are under ENORMOUS pressure. Honestly, do most of you people whining about them getting promoted think you could handle responsiblity for..oh, i dont know…a 40 billion dollar company? you act like they just stroll in, play a round of golf, get massages and whatever your delusions tell you….ive been a manager, at the plant level, and i can tell you this, if you think what your boss does to you is harsh, what they get on the other side is 100 times worse. Ive sat in meetings where department heads are called dumb (^*%^ to their faces in front of their colleagues and there isnt a dam thing they can do about it. most of you would walk or want to cry to your buddies about it. Trust me, the “hardworking” workers dont have to deal with a inkling of what upper management has to contend with. but of course, they are paid too much and the reason the company is in the tank, right? its everyones fault, not just the upper management. Ford has the same kind of people at the top of its managment chain, and yet they are just fine, arent they? tired of the whinin. if you dont like it, go get 2 masters degrees, put your time in the trenches (where most of these guys started) and work your way up to where they are…otherwise, stick a sock in it..
I spent 26 years driving screws into the sheet metal for speakers of various vehicles at the Fenton complex and think I am ready to take on the role of executive manager. A daily haircut, a team of assistants to tell me what I am doing for the next hour and another team keeping meeting minutes so they can be kept for a record of what I did for the daily bankroll I am being given. Come on give me a chance. I know I can do the job.
Joe Dirt has been promoted to Director of Public Relations with the new Chrysler from his previous position of head speaker screw installer. Congrats to JoeDirt on his promotion and finding an affordable house near his new office in Auburn Hills Michigan. Good luck JOE.