Don Butler resigned as Cadillac's chief of global strategic development.
Cadillac’s chief of global strategic development has tendered his resignation, Don Butler became the third senior executive at General Motors’ flagship brand to leave the luxury division in recent months.
Butler’s unexpected announcement comes amidst a broader shake-up in senior management throughout the GM global empire. Some senior executives, including Butler, have apparently decided to simply move on, but others have been forced out due to weak performance or, in the case of another Caddy exec, because of ethical concerns.
Butler called his departure a “personal decision,” adding in an e-mail that, “I just need to take a step back to recalibrate, reassess my priorities.” In his note he concluded, “I know it’s time for a change but I don’t know what’s next. I’m trusting that God will provide.”
It’s actually the second time Butler has left General Motors. He originally joined the maker in 1981 and served in a variety of positions before departing in 2009, apparently due to frustrations with the maker as it sank into bankruptcy. He served a bit less than two years with a Seattle-based software start-up before rejoining GM. He has worked on infotainment projects with the Detroit maker but his most recent duties put him in a senior role at Cadillac.
Until April he was Cadillac’s vice president of U.S. marketing. But Butler was passed over when, last year, GM decided to bring in an outsider, Bob Ferguson, to serve as Caddy’s new global chief executive. It was a significant decision coming as the luxury brand was set to begin a global rollout aimed at finally making it a true competitor to such import brands as Mercedes-Benz and BMW and, to a lesser degree, Toyota’s Lexus.
Butler remained with the GM brand but was appointed to the new post of vice president for global strategic development.
His departure comes at a challenging time for Cadillac which just recently began assembling its new XTS sedan in China, where it reported a nearly 83% year-over-year sales gain for July. Cadillac is also looking to finally gain some traction in Europe where it has struggled to build a base for decades.
That effort was set back when, in late June, Susan Docherty, the director of Chevrolet and Cadillac in Europe tendered her own resignation. Saying she plans to spend more time with family, Docherty is set to leave the company in September.
A third senior executive left Cadillac last month. But U.S. sales director Chase Hawkins was ousted for reasons GM will only describe as a violation of company policy.
Parent General Motors has seen a number of senior executives leave the firm over the past year, including former global marketing czar Joel Ewanick who was ousted in mid-2012 for what was also described as an ethical breach. Others, including a number of senior European managers, have been forced out for failing to meet the increasingly demanding performance benchmarks set by GM Chairman and CEO Dan Akerson.
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Nonetheless, a Cadillac spokesman told the Detroit Free Press that Butler’s was not a forced ouster and was not a case of “housecleaning.”
Despite the management turmoil, Caddy has been having a generally good year. Beyond the increase in China – off an admittedly small base of sales – the maker gained 30% in the U.S. during the first seven months of 2013, coming a hair short of breaking the 100,000 mark.
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The increase was largely driven by new models, such as the XTS and the compact ATS model, which won North American Car of the Year honors last January.
In the months ahead, Cadillac will introduce an all-new – larger and more up-market – version of its CTS sedan, as well as a high-line version of the Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid to be called the ELR.