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GM's Maureen Kempston-Darkes has chosen to retire
GM to close Latin America office
The GM office in Miramar that oversees Latin America will close Oct. 1, affecting all 80 employees and costing South Florida a great deal in prestige.
Among the more than 1,100 multinationals with operations in South Florida, GM ranks No. 1 in revenues overseen, according to WorldCity’s research as part of its Who’s Here database. More than 40 companies oversee in excess of $1 billion, with Delray Beach-based Office Depot likely to ascend to the No. 1 ranking.
GM oversees Latin America as well as Africa and the Middle East from the Miramar office, which is headed by Maureen Kempston Darkes, a group vice president as well as regional president. Her responsibility includes 30,300 employees and $18.9 billion in annual revenues. She is retiring at the end of the year, after 34 years with the company, and will remain in South Florida through the end of the year as part of the transition.
As part of the company’s re-emergence from bankruptcy, the company decided to consolidate its four regional global offices, according to Richard James, a 19-year company veteran who has been in South Florida the last four years.
“It has been relatively short notice for us, coming out of the bankruptcy (so quickly),” James said. “It’s the right thing to do, frankly, for the company.”
In addition to South Florida, the company had a regional headquarters in Europe, Shanghai and Detroit. Going forward, Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa and the Middle East — formerly the province of the Miramar office — will be run from Shanghai. The European operations will be smaller and more limited as well.
The status of the 80 employees will depend on a number of factors, James said. About 20 are being repatriated to their home countries. They were employees given temporary assignments here, a practice common to multinationals. The remaining 60 will either relocate in the United States, shift to another international office or leave the company. James said the company was offering what he described as generous severance packages, with length of service a factor, but did not provide details.
GM’s LAAM office, as it was called, was not actually part of the bankruptcy filing itself. It has long been a profitable region for the company. As of June, in fact, 72 percent of all GM cars are sold outside the United States. Brazil recently became the No. 3-ranked country, behind the United States and China. Canada is No. 4.
In Latin America, GM manufactures in Brazil, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Argentina and Mexico. (The Mexico operation is not part of the LAAM office.) Those employees and operations are largely unaffected by the changes.
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