GM Names Cathy Clegg to Lead N.A. Manufacturing
Clegg replaces Gerald Johnson, who has been tapped by CEO Mary Barra to beef up engineer training after a sweeping ignition-switch recall.
General Motors names 31-year veteran Cathy Clegg to lead the automaker’s North American manufacturing operations, replacing Gerald Johnson, who has been tapped by CEO Mary Barra to beef up engineer training after a sweeping ignition-switch recall.
The 51-year-old Johnson, who led GM’s North American manufacturing for one year, was named to his new post as vice president-Operational Excellence at GM last week. Among his responsibilities, Johnson will oversee a planned increase in Six Sigma certification for company engineers, which Barra pledged to ramp up as one of several responses to a spate of recalls blamed on poor engineering processes.
Johnson has spent his 33-year career in the automaker’s quality, manufacturing and labor relations ranks and his appointment was announced alongside Clegg’s promotion.
As vice president-North America Manufacturing at GM, Clegg will oversee 74,000 employees and 55 manufacturing facilities in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Clegg, 54, most recently served as vice president-Manufacturing Engineering at GM, with responsibility for automotive body, press, assembly, controls, paint, powertrain and global program management.
She has held leadership positions across GM’s manufacturing organization, including vehicle assembly, stamping and powertrain operations. In 2011, Clegg led the automaker’s labor negotiations for the current UAW-GM National Agreement.
“Cathy’s proven track record in key labor and manufacturing roles and her passion for innovation will be an asset to GM and her team,” Jim DeLuca, executive vice president-Global Manufacturing at GM, says in a statement. “Her demonstrated commitment to employees and our customers will help ensure our continued focus on safety and quality.”
Kurt Wiese replaces Clegg as vice president-Global Manufacturing Engineering at GM. Wiese, 58, brings 36 years of manufacturing and manufacturing engineering experience to his new post.
He previously served as executive director-Global Product Development and prior to that led operations at Oshawa Truck Assembly and Manufacturing Engineering Vehicle Body Systems.
All of the appointments are effective July 1.
About the Author
You May Also Like
