Former AT&T chairman and CEO Edward Whitacre Jr. would head GM’s board post GM’s bankruptcy protection recovery.

The 67 year old ex AT&T CEO will replace Kent Kresa, though Kresa will continue to serve as the interim chairman of the company till it recovers from bankruptcy. Whitacre was responsible for the company’s sales and acquisitions during his tenure as the CEO and chairman of AT&T and its forerunners from 1990-2007.

Whitacre also serves the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp and Exxon Mobil and the railroad company boards.

Whitacre would form an important part of a newly formed board which would include current board representatives Erroll B. Davis Jr., Kathryn V. Marinello, Philip A. Laskawy, E. Neville Isdell, Intermediate CEO Kresa and CEO Fritz Henderson. It is speculated that the rest of the members who represent the board currently would in all probabilities retire.

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U.S. automakers are undergoing troubled times for some time now with Chrysler filing for bankruptcy last month followed by GM’s recent disclosure, industry experts believe this might not spell disaster for the rest of the U.S. manufacturers. Industrial landscape survey reveals that the manufacturers are in a better shape.

Sunil Chopra (Kellogg School of Management) says that the U.S. manufacturing industry is in a state of flux. He believes that either you can look at what went wrong with automakers like General Motors, or you can learn from manufacturers who survived.

RSM McGladrey’s head (manufacturing practice) Tom Murphy believes that U.S. manufacturers’ volumes still rank higher globally. He adds that manufacturing sector has experienced progressive changes and innovations which would not be affected by the recent blows to the carmakers.

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