Oldsmobile Chief Expected to Resign

General Motors Corp. is expected to announce the resignation of Oldsmobile General Manager Karen Francis, a fast-rising marketing executive and one of a handful of high-ranking women at the world’s No. 1 auto maker, industry sources said. Francis, who joined GM in 1996, is expected to take a job outside GM, sources said. A GM spokesman declined to comment, and Francis was unavailable to comment. Oldsmobile sales rose 6.8% in 1999 to 352,197, on top of an 8.2% gain in 1998. But for the first quarter of 2000 sales fell 18%.