General Motors Chief Digital Officer Edward Kummer and Donald Chesnut, GM’s chief experience officer, have resigned from the automaker, a GM spokesperson confirmed in an email Wednesday.
“We wish Edward Kummer well and thank him for his years of contribution to GM,” spokesperson Kevin Kelly said in an email. “We have reorganized some of our teams supporting digital services and experiences to ensure the business continues to run efficiently. We have no further details to share at this time.”
GM’s digital services team, which is currently part of the automaker’s software and services organization, is being reorganized within other areas of the company to achieve better “consistency with revenue-generating, software and marketing functions,” according to a company memo obtained by the Detroit Free Press.
Kummer’s exit comes just two weeks after Mike Abbott, GM’s former executive vice president of software and services, resigned due to health reasons. Baris Cetinok, the automaker’s current vice president of product in software and services, has been named interim head of software and services while the company searches for Abbott’s replacement.
For the past several years, GM has been developing software-based vehicles capable of receiving regular over-the-air updates. The automaker has also been adding more connectivity and features to its vehicles, including software-based subscription services that can generate new and recurring revenue streams.
However, the software rollout for the Chevy Blazer EV and other GM vehicles has been plagued with problems. In December, GM issued a stop-sale order for the Blazer EV after numerous reports of software glitches. The stop-sale was finally lifted earlier this month after GM updated the Blazer EV software. GM paused sales of model year 2024 Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon mid-size trucks to address intermittent software quality issues.
GM also faced criticism last year after it decided to phase out Apple CarPlay and Android Auto in future vehicles, according to the Detroit Free Press.
GM named Kummer its chief digital officer in October 2021. As head of the company's newly established digital business team, he was responsible for guiding GM's growth strategy, including accelerating the automaker’s investments in software.
Chesnut joined GM in January 2021 and was named the first chief experience officer in the automaker’s history, according to his LinkedIn profile. His responsibilities included overseeing the mobile apps and websites for GM’s Chevy, Cadillac, GMC and Buick brands. GM declined to provide further details about his departure.
