GM Human Resources Chief Leaves Company After 8 Months on Job
February 28 2018 - 04:01PM
Dow Jones News
By Mike Colias
General Motors Co.'s human-resources chief has left the company
after just eight months on the job, the auto maker said Wednesday,
an unexpected move coming as the Detroit auto giant continues to
seek talent to help reinvent its culture and battle Silicon Valley
in an escalating tech race.
Jose Tomas, who joined GM in July 2017 after stints leading HR
at health-benefits company Anthem Inc. and Burger King, "has
elected to leave the company for personal reasons," a GM spokesman
said. Mr. Tomas couldn't be reached for comment.
Mr. Tomas reported to Chief Executive Mary Barra, serving among
a small group of executives that forms her inner circle. He was
hired last summer to replace the retired John Quattrone, an
executive who spent his career at GM and was a confidante of Ms.
Barra.
GM said it would name a replacement at a later date.
The swift departure is a rarity under Ms. Barra, whose tenure
has been marked by continuity in the executive suite after
substantial turnover following GM's 2009 bankruptcy and a series of
shake-ups at crosstown rival Ford Motor Co.
The top human-resources job at GM has taken on elevated
importance in recent years as the auto maker has worked to change
its culture following the bankruptcy and a safety scandal involving
a defective ignition switch that was uncovered in 2014.
On top of that, traditional auto makers are scrambling to bring
in fresh talent to help them navigate an industry being transformed
by driverless cars and other technology that has attracted
competition from tech giants, including Alphabet Inc., and
startups. GM, for example, two years has hired about 500 people to
work at its San Francisco-based Cruise Automation subsidiary, an
autonomous-vehicle startup acquired in early 2016.
Ms. Barra, who served as GM's HR chief from 2009 to 2011, has
touted an influx of new employees in her four years as CEO. During
an investor presentation in November, Ms. Barra said nearly 40% of
GM's roughly 77,000 salaried employees have been at the company for
fewer than five years.
"As we've hired new people...we've reshaped the company and the
skill sets that we need to provide and lead in the transformation
areas," she said.
Upon his hiring, Ms. Barra lauded Mr. Tomas' experience managing
"a complex global employee base." Before Anthem, Mr. Tomas ran HR
and Latin American operations for Burger King.
Write to Mike Colias at Mike.Colias@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 28, 2018 15:46 ET (20:46 GMT)
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