GMAC Financial Services has hired Bank of America executive Robert Hull as its new CFO, Sanjiv Khattri, who is moving to the newly created position of executive vice president of corporate development and strategy, effective Dec. 3.
In addition to his new responsibility for strategic planning and business development, Khattri will continue as CFO of GMAC Residential Capital (ResCap). He also will remain a member of the GMAC executive committee and the ResCap board.
Hull will report to chief operating officer and former Bank of America CFO Al de Molina, whose employer, Cerberus Capital Management, bought a majority stake in GMAC from General Motors a year ago. De Molina resurfaced at Cerberus in June, six months after he left Bank of America after just 18 months as CFO there.
Hull was CFO of Bank of America’s global wealth and investment management and principal investing divisions. He joined the company in 2001 as senior vice president for strategy and financial planning and later was named CFO of the card services division.
The changes in the finance department are a stark reminder that when private equity firms come knocking, the jobs of top executives, including the CFO, might not be stable. In November 2006, General Motors sold a 51 percent controlling interest in GMAC to a consortium of investors led by Cerberus Capital Management, L.P.
Private-equity owners frequently want to install their own executives who they either employ directly or have on retainer. They also may feel a finance chief who is suitable for a public company may not be the best person for a more debt-laden, private company that eventually will look for an exit strategy to cash out the huge investment.