New chief for GM of Canada

Tony Van Alphen

BUSINESS REPORTER

General Motors Co. has shaken up its management team and appointed a new president to run the company's Canadian subsidiary.

The company announced Tuesday that Kevin Williams, who has led the company's parts and service operations in North America, will become the head of GM of Canada.

He replaces Arturo Elias, who held the post since August 2006. Elias will take a position at GM's public policy centre in Washington.

The 49-year-old Williams, who oversaw after-sales activities on the continent from December 2008, led GM in Mexico for almost two years. He also held senior positions relating to supply quality around the world and in Europe.

Williams started his career at GM in 1983 as a reliability analyst at Buick City in Flint, Mich. In 1989, he became the general supervisor of production at the Lansing Craft Centre in Lansing, Mich. In 1991, the company appointed him program readiness manager for GM's EV1 electric vehicle program.

In 1993, he became a reliability engineer with GM's former truck group and then worked as an assistant production superintendent at the company's assembly plant in Janesville, Wisc. The company promoted him to area manager in 1996.

Williams was born and raised in Lexington Park, Md., and earned a bachelor's degree in business management from Tennessee State University in 1983 and a master's degree from Central Michigan University in 1989.

Elias headed GM of Canada through one of the most difficult periods in its history. It included a major restructuring of operations as part of a North American survival plan that closed plants and cut thousands of jobs.

He has held numerous financial and executive positions for GM around the world, but critics said he kept a low public profile here.

As part of the changes that affected several executives on Tuesday, Susan Docherty, who had been in charge of sales and marketing for GM in North America, will concentrate on the marketing side of the business. Mark Reuss, GM's North American president, will assume her sales duties, the company said.

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