Don Butler, Cadillac VP for Global Strategy, Resigns

by TTAC Staff

Updated: February 17th, 2014 Published: August 6th, 2013

don butler cadillac vp for global strategy resigns

Saying it was a personal decision to step back and reassess his priorities, Cadillac vice president for global strategic development Don Butler announced his resignation in an email. “As I’ve told others, I just need to take a step back to recalibrate, reassess my priorities,” Butler said. “I know it’s time for a change but I don’t know what’s next. I’m trusting that God will provide.”

According to the Detroit Free Press, Cadillac spokesman David Caldwell said that Cadillac’s head, Bob Ferguson, had asked Butler to stay on, so his departure is not seen as a house cleaning. As Cadillac tries to grow its brand globally, it now faces the departure of three ranking executives. Butler’s resignation follows the firing a few weeks ago of Chase Hawkins, who was in charge of Cadillac’s U.S. sales for unspecified violations of company policy, and comes just before the announced September resignation of Susan Docherty, who is in charge of Cadillac (and Chevrolet) in Europe.

Butler was a bit of a rising star at GM, which promoted him from Cadillac vice president for U.S. marketing to Cadillac vice president of global strategic development just last April. Butler, who started at GM in 1981, left the company once before, in 2009, to work for a software company, but after running into GM North America president Mark Reuss on the escalator at Detroit’s Metropolitan Airport only six weeks later Reuss was able to convince him to return to the automaker. No word on if Reuss is staking out Metro, though a GM source tells TTAC that Butler’s departure likely stems from his reluctance to spend time on the road. With Cadillac looking to grow in China and Europe, Butler would have to spend a significant amount of time travelling – perhaps more than a family man like Butler may want to endure.

#Cadillac #DonButler

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Domestic Hearse on Aug 06, 2013

Could Don's reasoning for his resignation be based on the fact that GM CEO Dan Akerson reached out to an old buddy with zero automotive experience, Bob Ferguson, to be VP of Cadillac/global? That Don's 32 years at GM was bypassed in favor of a telecom 'genius' with absolutely no clue how the automobile business works? That Don still must do the heavy lifting at Cadillac while Bob (and Dan) take the credit? I'd leave, too. Someone looking for a sharp executive with premium division leadership is already putting together an offer sheet. God may be on Don's side, and I hope so, but it'll be Hyundai, Kia or Nissan's Infiniti division signing his paychecks soon.

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- Kendahl on Aug 06, 2013
  
  Alan Mulally, who came from Boeing, has done well with Ford. At that level, it takes someone who understands how to make the bureaucracy perform. Industry specific knowledge isn't that important. I retired from a big railroad. The best CEO I ever worked for came from an engine manufacturing company. He was all about getting the job done whatever it took. Middle managers, who cared more about their personal fiefdoms than the job, hated his guts. The guys who actually did the work loved him.
  
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- Domestic Hearse on Aug 07, 2013
  
  @Kendahl Mulally has an MA in Engineering from MIT. And reinvented the entire manufacturing process for Boeing during his tenure -- one of the most complex and far-flung multi-functional corporations on earth. So coming over to the car business was not a foreign concept to him, and in fact, he was able to bring over best practices from the aerospace/aeronautics industry. He knoweth his shiz. I'm sure the CEO you worked for was a good executive. And he proves the exception to the rule that you should know your industry in order to lead in it. However, I think, if you're inferring that Akerson and Ferguson also exemplify this exception to the rule, you're mistaken. All reports, official and off-the-record from those within GM and who work closely with the company indicate they're doing more harm than good, but are too disconnected and un/misinformed to know better.
  
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360joules on Aug 06, 2013

I used to joke that when a colleague resigned to Pursue Other Interests that he/she had gone off to POI, Inc.

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