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G. Richard Wagoner Jr.2OO3 Michiganians of the Year
G. Richard Wagoner Jr.: GM chief's foresight helps put Detroit's goals into high gear
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‘Come on over here,” General Motors Corp. Chairman and CEO G. Richard “Rick” Wagoner said as he bolted from a conference table in his expansive office and walked over to a window looking out at the Detroit riverfront from 39 stories up.
“People come from Japan and China and Europe and ask what’s going on here,” Wagoner said, his voice rising with enthusiasm. “One day, you say, if all goes as planned, you can walk from here down to the Belle Isle Bridge and even farther in a parklike setting.”
When GM bought the failing Renaissance Center in 1996 and moved its headquarters there from West Grand Boulevard, the company didn’t just bring with it thousands of employees, but laid out an ambitious plan to extensively renovate the complex and spark development along Detroit’s riverfront.
The moves and Wagoner’s determination to build upon them since becoming GM chairman a year ago continue to pay dividends for the city, triggering more downtown revitalization, including the relocation of Compuware from the suburbs, new retail outlets, new housing developments, and dozens of nightspots and restaurants.
Late this summer, GM’s OnStar unit will begin transferring 900 workers to the RenCen — giving downtown another boost.
Under Wagoner’s leadership GM has also become a more secure workplace for Michiganians. The automaker remains solidly profitable, with quality and productivity on the upswing, too. Last fall, GM signed a new labor pact with the United Auto Workers that allows the company to become more efficient.
Wagoner has continued the efforts of his predecessor, Jack Smith, in dismantling GM’s bureaucracy and installed a leaner corporate organization. The changes have allowed the automaker to respond to market trends more quickly and cost-effectively, and stabilize market share in the face of blistering competition, especially from foreign automakers.
The decision to relocate GM’s headquarters was made under Smith, but Wagoner, a former Duke University basketball player, has picked up the ball and hasn’t stopped running with it.
“This is our home,” Wagoner said of Detroit. “We’re part of it and we associate closely with it. We feel the responsibility that goes along with it.”
The payoffs from Wagoner’s community support keep coming in big ways.
Wagoner led the committee that convinced the NCAA to stage its Division I men’s basketball Final Four tournament in Detroit in 2009 at Ford Field, drawing more than 75,000 fans and pumping $75 million into the Metro Detroit economy.
University of Detroit Mercy Athletic Director Bradford Kinsman worked alongside Wagoner in landing the lucrative event and notes Wagoner’s unselfishness with his limited time to make the effort successful.
“He took the time to meet, greet, and cultivate the NCAA decision makers,” said Kinsman. “His sincerity, wit and passion for college basketball really made a tremendous impression on the NCAA committee.”
Ever self-effacing, Wagoner — born in Wilmington, Del., and raised in Richmond, Va. — gives much of the credit to his community teammates — the University of Detroit-Mercy, the Detroit Council of Tourism and Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.
A dedicated family man with three sons, Wagoner’s other passion is education.
He received a degree in economics from Duke and later earned an MBA from Harvard University. Today, he’s a member of the boards of trustees of Detroit Country Day School and Duke.
And for the last 10 years, Wagoner has headed the executive committee of World in Motion, an educational endeavor of the Society of Automotive Engineers. It is designed to encourage elementary and middle school students to pursue engineering careers and address industry concerns about a long-term shortage of engineers.
Wagoner wants to ratchet up World in Motion in Detroit, which hasn’t been able to take advantage of the program as much as he’d like.
“I’m very enthused with plans we have to roll it out and participate in the schools,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of GM and other companies’ engineers participating.”
While he’s reluctant to take a lot of personal credit for the good things happening in Detroit, Wagoner can’t help but stare out of his office window and think about the satisfaction he may feel in the future.
“The day we can look down here and see what we’ve described, I’m going to feel proud GM had a part in it,” said Wagoner. “But more than anything, it’s going to be a tribute to the community working together.”
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The Detroit News.
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