GM Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner to Give Keynote Address at JVS Strictly Business Luncheon

SOUTHFIELD, Mich., -- Automotive industry leader Rick Wagoner, chairman and CEO, General Motors Corporation, will deliver the keynote address at the eleventh annual JVS Strictly Business Networking and Awards Luncheon, hosted by JVS, a nonprofit human service organization.

More than 700 business and community leaders are expected to attend to hear Wagoner speak about new technologies and job creation.

Four local employees will also be honored by JVS for their outstanding vocational accomplishments and ePrize, an interactive promotions company, will receive the Business Leadership Award in recognition of its exemplary employment practices. Josh Linkner, ePrize CEO, will accept the award. Ford Motor Company Fund and General Motors are the Award Underwriters The Chrysler Foundation is the presenting sponsor of the event for the seventh consecutive year. Kenwal Steel Corporation is the luncheon underwriter.

Rick Wagoner was elected GM chairman and chief executive officer on May 1, 2003. He had been president and chief executive officer since June 2000.

Wagoner was elected president and chief operating officer in 1998 and had been executive vice president of GM and president of North American Operations since 1994. He served as executive vice president and chief financial officer from 1992 to 1994 and also had responsibility for worldwide purchasing from 1993 to 1994.

Wagoner was president and managing director of General Motors do Brasil (GMB) in 1991 and 1992. Prior to that, he was vice president in charge of finance for General Motors Europe based in Zurich, Switzerland, in 1989 and 1990.

Born in Wilmington, Delaware, on February 9, 1953, and raised in Richmond, Virginia, Wagoner received a bachelor's degree in economics from Duke University in 1975 and a master's degree in business administration from Harvard University in 1977.

Wagoner began his GM career as an analyst in the Treasurer's Office in New York in 1977. After several promotions there, in 1981 he became treasurer of GMB in Sao Paulo. In 1984, he became executive director of finance for GMB. He moved to GM of Canada Limited in 1987 as vice president and finance manager. In October 1988, he became group director, strategic business planning, for the former Chevrolet-Pontiac-GM of Canada Group.

Wagoner is a member of the boards of trustees of Duke University and Detroit Country Day School, the Board of Dean's Advisors of the Harvard Business School, and the Board of Directors of Catalyst. He is chairman of the Society of Automotive Engineers A World In Motion Executive Committee, and a member of The Business Council, The Business Roundtable, and the Detroit Renaissance Executive Committee.

JVS helps people with developmental, emotional and physical disabilities that need the chance to prove they are capable workers; teens and young adults who need job experience and career direction; breadwinners who need a job or a career change, seniors with memory loss. People from all walks of life who need help turn to JVS for counseling, training and support. From 4 locations, JVS helped over 18,000 people last year.