G. Richard Wagoner, Jr.

Age: 55

WHAT HE DOES
A General Motors company man since 1977, he worked his way up to C.E.O. in 2000 and now oversees the firm’s daily global operations. 

WHAT HE’S KNOWN FOR
In another life, the six-foot-four Wagoner might have spent his career in the N.B.A. instead of at the world’s largest car company. With no real affinity for cars, he nevertheless became the youngest C.E.O. in G.M.’s history, at the age of 47. He took over at a time when the company’s market share was starting to slip precipitously, and now G.M. is in danger of losing its long-standing place as the No. 1 car seller to Toyota (and by some accounts, it already has). Critics have been grumbling since he started, not because he isn’t a car guy, but because they say he hasn’t instituted enough improvements. On the other hand, Wagoner’s fans think the company is in good hands, praising him for his levelheaded decision making and his easygoing management style.

Wagoner is quiet on the matter, as he is on most issues, despite having an inner competitive streak. Instead, he surrounds himself with top talent, especially executives he has hired from outside G.M.—a rare practice among his predecessors. Wagoner has been putting a plan in place since he started at G.M. in 1977, fresh out of business school, as an analyst in the treasurer’s office.

Wagoner’s career quickly went from zero to 60: In 1981, he became the treasurer of G.M.’s Brazil subsidiary, where he learned to speak Portuguese and found himself handling everything from scrambling to meet payroll to dealing with government officials. In 1984, he was promoted to executive director of finance at the Brazil subsidiary, leaving in 1987 to become vice president and financial manager of G.M.’s Canadian business.

After stints as V.P. of finance for G.M. Europe and president of G.M. Brazil, he was named chief financial officer at G.M.’s Detroit headquarters in 1992—a perfect fit for his number-crunching credentials. Rising to the position of president of G.M.’s North American operations in 1994, Wagoner made the division profitable, trimming manufacturing costs and becoming a choice pick for a promotion in the process; he was named G.M. C.O.O. in 1998 and consolidated operations like sales and marketing, resulting in a better-coordinated company. In 2000, Wagoner became C.E.O. and added the title of chairman in 2003.

WHERE HE COMES FROM
Born in Wilmington, Delaware, and raised in Richmond, Virginia, he was encouraged to attend Duke University by his father, who was an alumnus. He played on the Blue Devils basketball team with dreams of going pro after graduation but instead discovered he had an affinity for numbers, which he parlayed into a B.A. in economics in 1975 and an M.B.A. from Harvard in 1977.

In 1979, Wagoner married a fellow Duke graduate, Kathy, with whom he has three adult sons. Wagoner keeps his family life private, though his propensity to balance the demands of work and home is well-known; he coached his kids’ baseball teams and has run concession stands attheir Little League games.

WHERE HE’S GOING
Wagoner is in it for the long haul. His top priority is keeping G.M. at the top, and out-pacing Toyota. To do so, he’s rushing headlong into alternative-fuel vehicles: He pushed the introduction of the Chevrolet Volt plug-in vehicle and in 2006 appointed a “director of hybrid energy-storage systems.” This came after a heavy-footed declaration at the beginning of 2006 that it would be the “year of the truck.”  —Sophia Banay