Chrysler to get a brand-new Bob, replacing chairman Nardelli with Kidder

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Chrysler may not yet be out of bankruptcy, but it already has a new boss lined up.

The automaker, which filed for Chapter 11 protection less than three weeks ago, said today that Robert Kidder would become its chairman once it emerges as a new company in alliance with Italian automaker Fiat.

Kidder, who is the former chairman and chief executive of Borden Chemical Inc. and currently heads green-tech investment firm 3Stone Advisors, will succeed current Chrysler Chairman Robert Nardelli. Kidder will be charged with turning the troubled company around.

‘I am confident that Chrysler will emerge from Chapter 11 a lean and powerful competitor,’ said Kidder, adding that the company would combine ‘its own rich history of innovation with Fiat’s technology and expertise to invigorate the American car market and to challenge other car companies around the globe.’

Nardelli has run the smallest of the U.S. car companies since August 2007. Since then, Chrysler has seen its sales crash more deeply than any other major manufacturer, been forced to borrow $7.8 billion from the government to remain solvent and has had to submit to a shotgun marriage with Italian automaker Fiat to save the company.

When Chrysler entered bankruptcy on April 30, Nardelli announced that he would leave the company upon completion of the bankruptcy process....

‘My No. 1 priority has been to preserve Chrysler and the livelihoods of thousands of people who depend on its success,’ Nardelli said in a statement. ‘With his broad expertise serving on numerous world-class boards and his accomplished business background, [Kidder] will provide the leadership and strategic counsel that will help to create a strong global competitor moving forward.’

In Kidder, Chrysler gets not only another Bob at the helm, but also one with an interesting resume, including helming battery maker Duracell International Inc.

That experience could be helpful to Chrysler, which has pledged to make battery-powered electric cars a key component of its turnaround plans, and last year unveiled a handful of electric prototypes that it hopes to begin producing within the next two years.

His experience at Borden is also of note. Under his watch, the Ohio maker of food products such as Cracker Jack, as well as of Elmer’s Glue and Krazy Glue, was bought out by takeover firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, which eventually sold off its food lines. After Kidder left in 2003, Borden was sold again.

But questions also arise about how much control over the company Kidder will truly have. Fiat, Chrysler’s partner going forward, has a very strong leader in Sergio Marchionne. Judging by his extensive involvement in negotiations with Chrysler and the Obama administration, it seems likely that that he will be pulling the strings at both Fiat and Chrysler.

That could create a situation analagous to Renault and Nissan, which are half a world apart but have the same boss: Carlos Ghosn. Each company has its own executive structure, but it is the Brazilian-French-Lebanese Ghosn, jetting between hemispheres on his Gulfstream, who is most firmly in charge. Notably, Chrysler did not bestow Nardelli’s chief executive title on Kidder, which could fuel such speculation.

As part of the terms of the bridge loans Chrysler received from the federal government, Nardelli agreed to take a salary of $1 in 2009.

But little is known about whether he will receive a severance. Private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management, which acquired Chrysler from Daimler in 2007, is notoriously mum on compensation issues.

Still, it would hardly be surprising to see Nardelli depart with a fair amount of bling in his parachute. At his last job, as chief executive of Home Depot Inc., he did little for shareholder value even as competitors ate up market share, en route to being named by CNBC as the worst CEO in history.

Despite that, his compensation was roughly $240 million, while his severance package was valued at $210 million.

No word yet on what Kidder will be paid.

--Ken Bensinger