2012 Powerlist: Jon Lauckner, GM

Jon Lauckner, president at General Motors Ventures and the corporate venturing unit’s parent company’s vice-president and chief technology officer, is effectively responsible for keeping the vehicle maker’s innovation strategy on the right road following its bankruptcy in 2009.

At a company legendary for hide-bound bureaucracy, Lauckner developed the Chevrolet Volt, General Motors’ multi-award-winning plug-in hybrid car, working alongside famous automobile executive Bob Lutz, then vice-chairman of the automaker.

Lauckner was subsequently given the task in 2010 of setting up GM Ventures. Seemingly in recognition of the success of this brief, in April
he took on the additional responsibilities of chief technology officer and overall research and development of the US car manufacturer, as well as retaining his role as head of GM Ventures.

Lauckner said: “I worked for most of my career in product development, including 13 years of international assignments, in South America and Europe. In 2005, Bob Lutz, who was vice-chairman of global product development, brought me back to the US from Europe to lead a new position as vice-president of global programme management.

Programme management is the organisation that leads the development of a vehicle from “gleam in the eye” when it is a clay model in the design studios to a gleam on the showroom floor.”

After four years in that assignment, Lauckner led global product planning until he was asked by Steve Girsky, GM vice-chairman, to set up GM Ventures.

Lauckner added: “Start-ups play an important role because they are often at the cutting edge of innovation. They are created around a unique idea or new intellectual property and they attract investors based on the premise this will create a valuable business.”

Lauckner said of the Volt: “It was a terrific opportunity to really do  something many so-called experts felt could not be done at all and certainly could not be done within the timeframe we had established. We announced the concept car in January 2007 and the first Volts were on the road in November 2010.

“It involved innovations in batteries, electronic motors, charging systems, control systems and many other areas. And it required us to develop  technical strengths that we will leverage for many years to come.”

Lauckner, who is also on the board of Michigan Venture Capital  Association, joined GM straight after receiving a degree in mechanical engineering from University of Michigan in 1979.

He earned a master’s degree in management from Stanford Business School in 1990 through the Sloan fellowship  programme and attended the GM-Harvard senior executive programme in 2001.

Lessons from the top: Lauckner said: “It is really important to know very specifically how you are going to work with a start-up company the day after an investment closes.

“The other thing you must be crystal clear about is whether your corporate venturing is primarily focused on financial return or primarily focused on supporting an existing core business or growing a new business?

“The easy answer is both, but if your focus is primarily financial gain the investments you make should probably be different and more diverse than if your intent is to support the core business. As an example, we don’t look intensively at investments in social media for the most part, other than those that have a direct connection to automotive. An example of one that meets this objective is Relay Rides which is focused on peer-to-peer car sharing.”