- Robert Nardelli
Robert Louis Nardelli (born May 17, 1948, in Old Forge, Pennsylvania) is the chairman and chief executive officer of
Chrysler . He had earlier served in a similar capacity atThe Home Depot from December 2000 to January 2007. Prior to that, Nardelli had risen to become one of the top four executives atGeneral Electric .He
Rockford Auburn High School inRockford, IL and received hisBachelor of Science in business fromWestern Illinois University in Macomb, IL, where he was a member of theTau Kappa Epsilon fraternity. Nardelli also earned anMBA fromUniversity of Louisville .General Electric
He joined
GE in 1971 as an entry-level manufacturing engineer.From 1988 to 1991, Nardelli was an executive for a division of construction equipment equipment maker JI Case, which was then part of Tenneco Inc.By 1995, he had risen to president and CEO of GE Power Systems, also having the title of GE senior vice president. Nardelli was often known as "Little Jack", after his mentor
Jack Welch , whom Nardelli had ambitions to succeed as CEO of GE.When
Jack Welch retired as chairman and CEO of GE, a lengthy and well-publicizedsuccession planning saga ensued. Nardelli competed withJames McNerney andJeff Immelt to succeed Welch. With Immelt winning the three-way race, Nardelli and McNerney left GE (as was Welch's plan). About 10 minutes after Welch let him go, Nardelli received a job offer fromKen Langone who at the time was on the boards of both GE andHome Depot .The Home Depot
Nardelli became CEO of
The Home Depot in December 2000 despite having no retail experience. Using theSix Sigma management strategy used at GE, he dramatically overhauled the company and replaced itsfreewheeling entrepreneurial culture. He changed the decentralized management structure, by eliminating and consolidating division executives. He also installed processes and streamlined operations, most notably implementing a computerized automated inventory system and centralizing supply orders at the Atlanta headquarters.Nardelli was credited with doubling the sales of the chain and improving its competitive position. Revenue increased from $45.7 billion in 2000 to $81.5 billion in 2005, while profit rose from $2.6 billion to $5.8 billion. While this was a slower rate of growth than Home Depot had previously experienced (the company doubled in size every 4 years from 1979 to 2001), it must be noted that the high growth rates were largely due to rapid expansion. As the company was reaching its retail limit in the US, Nardelli was brought in to shepherd its transition into a mature business.
Some have criticized him for not maintaining the growth that the company had previously experienced, pointing to his huge salary as a sign that he was actually supposed to bring new innovation to the company in order to help it maintain its historical growth. During Nardelli's tenure Home Depot stock was essentially steady, while competitor
Lowe's stock doubled, which along with his $240 million compensation eventually earned the ire of investors. [* [http://money.cnn.com/2007/01/03/news/companies/colvin_nardelli.fortune/ Nardelli's downfall: It's all about the stock] ] His blunt, critical and autocratic management style turned off employees and the public. While the board strongly stood by him for most of his tenure, questions about his leadership mounted in 2006, and in an ominous portent of the near future, he was the only director present at the annual meeting; he only allowed shareholders to speak for a minute each. When the board reportedly him in January 2007 [ * [http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/n/robert_l_nardelli/index.html Robert Nardelli - The New York Times] ] , Nardelli's severance package was estimated at $210 million. He was succeeded by The Home Depot vice chairman and executive vice presidentFrank Blake . Blake had served as Nardelli's deputy at both GE Power Systems and Home Depot.During his tenure at The Home Depot, Nardelli met President Bush at the White House in 2002 and was appointed to Bush's Council on Service and Civic Participation (although he is no longer a member) [* [http://www.whitehouseforsale.org/contributorsandpaybacks/page.cfm?pageid=340 Nardelli-Bush article that mentions Presidential Council] ] . Nardelli also hosted a garden reception/fundraiser for Bush at his Atlanta home on
May 20 ,2004 [* [http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1222706,00.html#article_continue article that mentions Bush Nardelli Garden Reception.] ]Coca-Cola
Nardelli was also briefly on the Board of Directors for
Coca Cola starting in 2001.Chrysler
On August 5, 2007, he became chairman and CEO of the newly privatized
Chrysler . His current annual salary at Chrysler is $1, with other compensation not publicly disclosed. [ * [http://www.ft.com/cms/s/8725cee0-4436-11dc-90ca-0000779fd2ac,_i_rssPage=4e612cca-6707-11da-a650-0000779e2340.html Financial Times story Nardelli's about salary] ] .On February 17, 2008, before his first
Daytona 500 race as Chrysler CEO, Nardelli guaranteed that Dodge would win the race for the first time since 2002, and that he would award a $1 million bonus to the Dodge team that did it.Ryan Newman , the driver of the #12Alltel Dodge, fulfilled this promise, and his car ownerRoger Penske collected the $1 million bounty. [* [http://sports.yahoo.com/nascar/news?slug=ap-nascar-daytona500&prov=ap&type=lgns] ]External links
* [http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_02/b3915610.htm Business Week profile]
* [http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16469224/ MSNBC: Out at Home Depot]
* [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/03/AR2007010300553.html Seeing red over a golden parachute]
* [http://w4.stern.nyu.edu/events/ceo.cfm?doc_id=2286 Biography]
* [http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/biography/M-R/Nardelli-Robert-L-1948.html Reference]
* Interview with Bob Nardelli by Joshua Hudson, August 2008, G.I. Jobs Magazine [http://http://www.gijobs.net/magazine.cfm?id=1075&issueId=84]References
* [http://www.usatoday.com/money/companies/management/2006-07-16-exec-advice-nardelli_x.htm?tab1=t4 USA Today Q&A during Home Depot days]
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