When former General Motors (GM) Chair Jack Smith stepped down in May 2003, G. Richard Wagoner Jr. smoothly stepped up to assume control as GM’s youngest chair and CEO in company history.

Wagoner had already been the president and CEO of GM since 1998, so the step did not come as a shock.

“To be honest, I wasn’t surprised. It was a pretty logical progression,” Wagoner says.

Nevertheless, Wagoner faced a formidable challenge—steering GM through a weak economy and jittery investment period.

One year later, as Wagoner comes to Harvard Business School (HBS) as its Class Day speaker, he brings with him a string of accomplishments: earnings are increasing steadily, worldwide expansion progresses and a host of new products are flowing through the markets.

Although So-Young Kang, chair of the four-person HBS Class Day committee, says the actual selection process for selecting the speaker is confidential, she says Wagoner was chosen based on his significant contributions to the corporate world.

“There is a screening process where we gather information from students,” she says. “We take into consideration indirect faculty influence, student interest and their leadership ability—which is ultimately what HBS stands for.”

Kang says Wagoner is a very active alum and was the top choice for Class Day speaker.

“We’re absolutely ecstatic he will come here tomorrow,” she says. “We’re so excited that he’s able to come.”

BUSINESS LEADER

Wagoner, who received an economics degree from Duke University in 1975 and an MBA from the Business School in 1977, says he had always been interested in business management. And that, combined with an interest in the automobile industry, led him to where he is today.

“I always enjoyed being involved with groups of people, even in junior high school,” he says. “I enjoy a profession that’s based on meritocracy, and I’ve been particularly interested in the auto industry: it contains a broad range of constituents—government, worker unions...and involvement in every aspect of economic policy.”

Wagoner recalls his time at Harvard as a “wonderful experience.”

“I was quite young when I went to HBS,” Wagoner says. “I think they have terrific professors...they encouraged students to think about problems, and that’s something that’s really stayed with me.”

Since Wagoner took the wheel at GM, he has instituted a fresh set of policies.