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Retired General Motors VP Receives Lifetime Achievement Award

8 December 1997

Retired General Motors VP Receives Lifetime Achievement Award

                   Black Auto Magazine to Honor Bill Brooks
              During 1998 North American International Auto Show

    DETROIT, Dec. 8 -- African Americans On Wheels (AAOW)
magazine will present former General Motors Vice President William C. Brooks
with a Lifetime Achievement Award on January 8, 1998 at the Museum of African
American History.  The special presentation is a highlight of AAOW's Second
Annual Golden Wheel Awards, held during the North American International Auto
Show in Detroit.
    African Americans On Wheels, the nation's first and only national
automotive magazine owned by and geared toward African Americans, selected
Brooks for the Lifetime Achievement Award because of his pioneering career
accomplishments.
    Randi Payton, publisher and editor-in-chief of AAOW, noted that Brooks
played an integral role in helping diversify the automotive industry.  "We're
honoring a man who helped establish GM as a leader in fair hiring practices
and set the standard for being a good corporate citizen," Payton said.
    Brooks joined General Motors in 1973, and rose to the level of vice
president of corporate affairs.  In 1989, he left briefly to serve as an
assistant secretary of labor in the U.S. Department of Labor, but returned to
GM in 1990.  In 1996, he was appointed to serve as a member of the Social
Security Advisory Board - a position in which he advises the president and
Congress on policy related to the elderly, persons with disabilities and the
supplemental security income program.
    Brooks retired from General Motors in July 1997 and became chairman of
Entech Personnel Services in August.  Upon his retirement, GM Chairman Jack
Smith praised Brooks, saying, "He worked tirelessly to help the corporation
make a difference in many communities throughout the nation."
    In addition, Brooks has been an integral part of many United Way Community
Services programs and served as general chair for the 1996 Torch Drive
Campaign, which raised more than $59 million for the metropolitan Detroit
area.  He continues to serve in several advisory capacities, including the
position of chairman of the board of directors for the Greater Detroit Chamber
of Commerce.
    African Americans On Wheels, a nationally distributed quarterly magazine,
is inserted in 32 newspapers and has a circulation of more than 600,000.

SOURCE  African Americans On Wheels