GM calls on former PR boss to help manage recall crisis

General Motors has temporarily filled a void in its executive ranks, hiring former public-relations head Steve Harris to help manage the ongoing recall debacle.

He will rejoin the company as a consultant, arriving just weeks after GM announced the resignation of its senior vice president of global communications, Selim Bingol, who departed as the company faced criticism over its response to the crisis.

“We continue to draw from a variety of expertise to help guide our response to the ignition switch recall,” GM said in a statement.

Harris originally joined GM out of college in the ’60s, later floating around the industry before returning from Chrysler in 1999 to serve as VP of communications.
He held the top PR spot off and on for the next decade, retiring between 2003 and 2006 to run his own company and retiring again in 2009.

The company recently hired a crisis-communications expert, Jeff Eller, to help with its recall response. Former director of media affairs for the Clinton White House, Eller also handled public relations for Bridgestone/Firestone during the Ford Explorer tire controversy.