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Bausch & Lomb gets GM exec
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November 13, 2001: 10:32 a.m. ET
Zarrella leaves GM for lens company; Lutz will head GM's N. American unit.
By Staff Writer Chris Isidore
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NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Ron Zarrella, who helped improve productivity and profits at General Motors Corp.'s North American operations the past three years, is leaving the company to become chairman and CEO of optical lens company Bausch & Lomb.
GM announced that its key North American operations will now be headed by Bob Lutz, its new vice chairman of GM product development, who will now also have the title of chairman of North American operations, and Gary Cowger, who will be president of the unit.
Shares of GM (GM: up $1.11 to $43.50, Research, Estimates), a component of the Dow Jones industrial average, were higher following the announcement, as were shares of Bausch & Lomb.
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Bob Lutz, left, is the new chairman of GM's North American operations after Ron Zarrella, right, resigned from the automaker to head Bausch & Lomb. | |
Lutz just joined GM after serving most recently as chairman and chief executive officer of battery maker Exide Technologies (EX: up $0.15 to $1.17, Research, Estimates).
Previously Lutz had been a top executive of Chrysler Corp., rising to the position of president, chief operating officer and vice chairman of the company before the company's purchase by Daimler-Benz AG formed DaimlerChrysler (DCX: up $0.59 to $37.31, Research, Estimates) in 1998. He had also served as an executive at Ford Motor Co. (F: up $0.24 to $16.45, Research, Estimates), GM and German automaker BMW earlier in his career.
Cowger had been group vice president of GM manufacturing and labor relations and he will retain those duties, though not those titles, in his new job.
For Zarrella, the move is a homecoming. He had been president and chief operating officer of Bausch & Lomb (BOL: up $0.79 to $32.60, Research, Estimates) before joining GM in 1994.
Rochester, N.Y.-based Bausch & Lomb saw William Carpenter resign from the CEO position in September, after he lost the chairman position to board member William Waltrip in July. Waltrip held the two positions on an interim position while he led a search for a new boss there.
GM has been the only profitable U.S. automaker in recent quarters, and it has seen its U.S. plants close much of the productivity gap with competitor Ford. Ford replaced CEO Jac Nasser last month as part of an ongoing shakeup of executives there.
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It is expected to continue to be profitable in the fourth quarter despite the announcement Monday that it was extending a popular but expensive zero-interest financing incentive on many new vehicles. 
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