Kellogg CEO to head Commerce Dept.
President names Kellogg CEO Carlos Gutierrez as Commerce Secretary.
November 29, 2004: 4:23 PM EST
By Krysten Crawford, CNN/Money staff writer
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - In naming Kellogg CEO Carlos Gutierrez as the new Commerce Secretary Monday, President Bush picked a powerful business leader and a minority who made it to the top of corporate America without a college degree.
If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Gutierrez, 51, will replace Donald Evans, who said earlier this month he was resigning. The Cuban-born Gutierrez is the second Hispanic-American to be nominated for a Cabinet post, following the recent appointment of White House counsel Alberto Gonzales as Attorney General.
President Bush, speaking at a press conference, called Gutierrez "one of America's most respected business leaders" and a "great American success story."
Gutierrez has served as CEO of Kellogg Company since 1999.
In picking Gutierrez for the Cabinet post, Bush signaled that he is moving fast to fill several high-level vacancies across multiple government agencies as he heads into his second term. Bush, who has pledged to overhaul Social Security and the federal income tax, is also revamping his economic team.
Peter Morici, a former U.S. trade official who is now a professor at the University of Maryland business school, said Gutierrez appears to fit Bush's pattern of hiring trusted managers over untested innovators.
"Bush has a clear idea of what he wants to do on the economy," said Morici. "He's really not looking for people to come in and create new policy for him, rather to be a messenger and execute according to his blueprint."
In the weeks since outgoing Commerce Secretary Evans resigned, widespread speculation about potential successors had centered on one individual: Mercer Reynolds, a Cincinnati businessman who led Bush's re-election fundraising efforts and whose ties to the president run deep.
White House officials did not publicly confirm or deny the rumors about Reynolds' candidacy.