Who’s Jim Campbell? The new top dog at Chevrolet.
Getting to know GM’s Jim Campbell
Chrissie Thompson
Automotive News
December 11, 2009 – 3:23 pm ET
Jim Campbell
Chevrolet’s future is in the hands of largely unknown Jim Campbell, a 21-year General Motors Co. veteran who most recently headed GM’s Fleet and Commercial Operations.
Campbell, 45, became general manager of Chevrolet on Wednesday, after Brent Dewar announced his retirement.
Here’s a chance to get to know Campbell, with quotes from an Automotive News interview Thursday.
Education: Bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan, master’s from Notre Dame
Experience: GM lifer. Joined in 1988. Has worked in customer relationship management, field sales and retail planning, along with marketing for the launches of the Chevy Cobalt, HHR, Colorado and several Corvette models. Had served as head of Fleet and Commercial Operations since February.
Significant accomplishment: Working on the Corvette. “We were very successful in understanding our customers’ needs. Once you understand your customer well, you can make better decisions and better trade-offs, whether they’re product trade-offs with various attributes or marketing trade-offs.”
Upcoming challenges: Launching a new marketing campaign and the Cruze, Volt and Silverado heavy-duty pickups.
Past experience with his new boss, U.S. sales and marketing chief Susan Docherty: When Docherty was regional general manager for GM’s western U.S. region, Campbell was director of retail planning. “We were on the phone several times a week.”
On comments by Ed Whitacre, GM’s chairman and interim CEO, that newly appointed managers don’t have long to show results: “I feel tremendous responsibility not only to GM’s leadership but also to GM’s dealers and our customers to accelerate very quickly in my job.”
Family: Single. “I don’t have kids or a dog or goldfish.” Loves spending time with his 4-year-old niece
Residence: Birmingham, a suburb of Detroit
