Edward E. Whitacre Jr., the former chair and CEO of AT&T Inc., will become chairperson of General Motors when it comes out of bankruptcy. In a prepared statement, the company says that interim chair Kent Kresa will continue to serve until the launch of what the company is calling New GM, which is expected to happen later this summer. Whitacre, 67, was in charge of AT&T and its predecessor companies from 1990 to 2007. The New York Times reports that he is widely credited with reshaping the U.S. telecommunications industry through a series of multibillion-dollar merger deals, including AT&T's $86 billion acquisition of BellSouth. "The appointment of Ed Whitacre as chairman represents a very auspicous beginning for the New GM," says Kresa. "We look forward to working with him to complete the reinvention of GM and maximize the enormous potential of this new enterprise."