Bob and Terry, there is no announcement that I am looking forward to with more anticipation and excitement than the naming of the new CEO. It's absolutely intriguing.
When Jerry Pearlman stepped down, his logical successor was waiting in the wings. When Al Moschner left, the company turned to Pete Willmott, an experienced executive who had been filling in as acting CEO. Now that Pete Willmott is stepping down, I suspect that a lot of key people, including Pete Willmott, are giving the selection of the next CEO a lot of careful thought, because it's so critically important, and because it presents such a great opportunity.
I believe that Pete Willmott had Zenith's best interests at heart when he decided to step down before the end of 1998. The September 10, 1997 issue of the Chicago Tribune quotes Pete as stating that the ideal situation would have been to quietly search for a successor, then announce the new CEO at the same time as his retirement, but that there was concern that word would eventually get out that a search was underway, which might lead to rumors and low morale. A decision was made to be candid about the retirement and search for a new CEO.
I spoke to Kevin Brindle a couple of weeks ago, and he told me that Zenith's objective was to find the best possible person for the job of CEO.
Who will that person be....????
I'm looking forward to what I hope will be a very exciting balance of 1997 and calendar year 1998. |
