GM announced the appointment of four new leadership positions to direct activities within this organization, effective June 1:

• Ed Peper, 46, is appointed North America Vice President, Chevrolet Channel.
• Susan Docherty, 45, is appointed North America Vice President, Buick-Pontiac-GMC Channel (BPG).
• Mark McNabb, 47, is appointed North America Vice President, Premium Channel.
• Jim Bunnell, 52, is appointed Executive Director, Channel Support Group (CSG).

Jill Lajdziak, 51, will continue to lead Saturn as General Manager, and assume sales responsibility for that channel.

Bill Powell, 61, will continue his role as GM North America vice-president, industry and dealer affairs.

Doug Herberger, 56, also continues his role as GM North America vice-president, Service Parts Operations, and global process leader for after-sales.

Docherty, McNabb, Peper and Bunnell, will report to Mark LaNeve, North American vice-president vehicle sales service and marketing, in their new assignments, as will Lajdziak, Powell, and Herberger in their current assignments.

“These changes have been designed to improve all of our brands, and achieve strongly profitable channels at both a wholesale and retail level,” said Troy Clarke, GM North America president. “We are further streamlining the organization to reduce complexity, align resources to improve the consumer experience and improve bottom line business results. We expect that the channels will work closely with GM’s global product development teams to ensure the products meet consumer needs. This is the next step in our continuing strategy to increase the effectiveness of GM North America’s operating model.”

“The past few years have yielded demonstrated success with award winning products such as the Chevy Silverado and Malibu, Buick Enclave, GMC Acadia, Saturn Aura, and Cadillac Escalade and CTS.” said Mark LaNeve, GM North America vice president, vehicle sales service and marketing. “Customers’ opinions of our products and brands have improved. We raised quality to world-class levels and announced our 100,000 mile powertrain warranty, the most comprehensive transferable warranty in the business.

“We also began focusing on a retail channel approach in 2002 with Buick-Pontiac-GMC. We are transitioning our portfolio to highly differentiated vehicles for each of our brands that truly meet targeted customer needs. This has resulted in stronger, more focused models in each channel portfolio, “ LaNeve added.

“A great example of this is the Buick Enclave which, within the BPG Channel, replaced the Rendezvous, Rainier, Terraza and Montana SV6. The Enclave outsells all four combined and Enclave is a true Buick in every sense of the word.

Today, the BPG channel covers a wide section of the market with distinct products like the Buick Enclave crossover, Pontiac G8 rear-wheel-drive sedan, and Professional Grade GMC trucks. Today’s announcements will build on that positive momentum by better aligning the organization to our channels . We are offering more valuable products for customers and producing better results for the business.”

Mark McNabb joins GM beginning April 21st from Nissan Motor Co., where he was corporate vice-president Infiniti and senior vice-president sales and marketing of Nissan North America. Jim Taylor, Cadillac divisional manager, Martin Walsh, Hummer divisional manager, and Steve Shannon, Saab divisional manager will report to him.

“Mark McNabb is a world-class executive with extensive experience. His background with Mercedes and Infiniti, in addition to Nissan, make him uniquely suited for this new position as the vice president of the premium brands,” LaNeve said. “He is a great addition to our North American team.”

Ed Peper, a 23 year GM veteran, has served as Chevrolet General Manager since April, 2005.  He has had numerous assignments in GM's field operations and central office, including general manager of GM's Northeast Region and vice president of sales for Saab Cars USA.

"Under Ed's leadership, Chevrolet led the U.S. industry in total sales two of the past three years, on the strength of great new products like the Chevy Malibu," said LaNeve.

Susan Docherty had been the Western Region’s General Manager since March 1, 2006. She was General Manager of Hummer and had worked at GM’s Cadillac Division, responsible for launching the Escalade family of vehicles. She spent a good portion of her career in marketing leadership assignments covering Europe and Asia.

“Susan has a strong list of accomplishments supporting a variety of GM regions and brands.” LaNeve said. “Her leadership will help the BPG channel continue to gain strength and customers”.

Jim Bunnell, who had been general manager of BPG, will lead the Channel Support Group (CSG) collaborating with the channels on business strategies to provide common processes and systems to the channels. He had previously been General Manager of GM’s North Central Region.

“Jim really led the way by being the first to run a retail channel in the U.S.,” LaNeve Said, “He will use that experience to support the further development of all the channels.”