Bob Lutz

Chief Strategy Officer

Expertise:

Robert “Bob” Lutz is Chief Strategy Officer of ASI Consulting Group. On this role, Bob works with ASI client CEOs and leadership teams on strategic initiatives like LEO, DFSS, and others.

Prior to joining ASI, Bob served as vice chairman of General Motors and retired in 2010 following a 47-year career in the global automotive industry that included senior leadership positions at BMW, Ford and Chrysler.

He began his automotive career in September 1963 at GM, where he held a variety of senior sales and marketing positions in Europe until December 1971. For the next three years, he served as executive vice president of global sales and marketing at BMW in Munich and as a member of that company’s board of management.

From 1974 until 1986, Bob held a variety of positions at Ford Motor Company. His last position was executive vice president of truck operations. He also served as chairman of Ford of Europe and as executive vice president of Ford’s international operations. From 1982 to 1986, Bob was a member of Ford’s board.

Bob joined Chrysler in 1986 as executive vice president and was shortly thereafter elected to the Chrysler Corporation board. He led all of Chrysler’s automotive activities, including sales, marketing, product development, manufacturing, and procurement and supply. Bob served as president and chief operating officer, responsible for Chrysler’s car and truck operations worldwide, and retired in 1998 as vice chairman.

His 12 years with the company are chronicled in his 1998 book, Guts: The Seven Laws of Business That Made Chrysler the World’s Hottest Car Company also Guts: 8 Laws of Business from One of the Most Innovative Business Leaders of our Time. Lutz recently published Icons and Idiots: Straight Talk On Leadership (2013) and Car Guys vs. Bean Counters: The Battle for the Soul of American Business (2011).

Prior to rejoining GM as vice chairman in 2001, Bob was chairman and chief executive officer of Exide Technologies. He served as chairman until his resignation about a year later. He continued on as a member of Exide’s board of directors until 2004.

He rejoined GM as vice chairman of product development. November, 2001, he was named chairman of GM North America and served in that capacity until April, 2005, when he assumed responsibility for Global Product Development. He also served as president of GM Europe on an interim basis from March to June 2004.

In April, 2009, Lutz was named vice chairman and senior advisor providing strategic input into GM’s global design and key product initiatives, a position he was to hold until retirement at the end of 2009. In July, 2009, he was appointed vice chairman, marketing and communications, and in December 2009, he was named vice chairman, specially assigned to advise on design and global product development.

He serves as chairman of The New Common School Foundation and is also a member of the board of trustees for the U.S. Marine Corps University Foundation and vice chairman of the board of trustees for the Marine Military Academy in Harlingen, Texas. He is a contributor to CNBC and Road & Track. He serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Via Motors, and is on the boards of Group 14, NanoSteel and Ushr; and is on the advisory boards of Alexander Proudfoot and Current Motor. He is also a partner in VLF Automotive with Gilbert Villarreal & Henrik Fisker.

Lutz received his bachelor’s degree in production management from the University of California-Berkeley in 1961, where he earned distinction as a Phi Beta Kappa. He received a master’s degree in marketing, with highest honors, from the University of California-Berkeley in 1962. He received an honorary degree of doctor of management from Kettering University (2003), and an honorary doctorate of law from Boston University (1985). The SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) Foundation named him the recipient of its 2006 Manufacturing Leadership Award, which recognizes individuals who have made meaningful contributions to the development of the automotive industry.

He served as a jet-attack aviator in the United States Marine Corps from 1954 to 1965 and attained the rank of captain.