After four-and-a-half years shaping the finances of the world’s largest software firm, Chris Liddell is taking on a new challenge. A big one. Datamation has the story of Liddell’s new gig at General Motors.
Maybe the job market isn’t as moribund as all the news reports say — especially if you’re a CFO with a reputation for big cost-cutting moves.
Chris Liddell, who just resigned as CFO at Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), is set to take over the same job at General Motors and will also become the auto giant’s vice chairman, according to a statement released by GM Monday.
Liddell, who has been at Microsoft for four and a half years, officially leaves the software giant at the end of this year.
“Chris brings a depth and experience to this job that were unmatched in our search for a new financial leader,” GM Chairman and CEO Ed Whitacre said in a statement. Liddell, who starts his new job in the new year, will report directly to Whitacre.
In his stint as CFO of the world’s largest software firm, Liddell made a name for himself as a cost cutter who signed off on the first round of layoffs in Microsoft’s history. Liddell is also credited with cutting an additional $3 billion from Microsoft’s expenses in fiscal 2009.