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By Matthew Quinn
Looks like Chris Liddell doesn't want his legacy to just be about returning excess cash to shareholders.
Less than a month after announcing he was departing his job as CFO of Microsoft, Liddell was tapped as the new finance chief and vice chairman of General Motors.
"Chris brings a depth and experience to this job that were unmatched in our search for a new financial leader," said Ed Whitacre, the former head of AT&T who was named chairman and CEO of GM on Dec. 1 after its board of directors ousted Fritz Henderson. "Chris will lead our financial and accounting operations on a global basis and will report directly to me."
In announcing his departure from Microsoft, the software giant said, Liddell "is looking at a number of opportunities that will expand his career beyond being a CFO."
And while he isn't shedding the CFO job title, he no doubt will be taking on more responsibility as he looks to reshape not only the automaker's fortunes but transform GM's much-maligned finance department.
In October, former car czar Steve Rattner wrote in Fortune magazine, "Everyone knew Detroit's reputation for insular, slow-moving cultures. Even by that low standard, I was shocked by the stunningly poor management that we found, particularly at GM, where we encountered, among other things, perhaps the weakest finance operation any of us had ever seen in a major company."
By tapping Liddell, who is both a GM and an auto-industry outsider, Whitacre was no doubt looking to undo that culture.
The 51-year-old and native New Zealander Liddell has a fine pedigree after years at top-notch organizations. He joined Microsoft in May 2005 after serving as CFO at International Paper and chief executive officer of Carter Holt Harvey, then New Zealand's second-largest listed company.
One thing missing from that resume is major turnaround experience. That's about to change.
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