Robert James "Bob" Eaton (born February 13, 1940) is an American businessman. He served as chairman and

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

Chrysler Corporation FCA US, LLC, doing business as Stellantis North America and known historically as Chrysler ( ), is one of the " Big Three" automobile manufacturers in the United States, headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan. It is the American subsidiary of ...

Early life

Eaton was born in Buena Vista,

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

and was raised in Arkansas City,

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

. He graduated with a B.S. degree in

mechanical engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines and mechanism (engineering), mechanisms that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and engineering mathematics, mathematics principl ...

from the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States. Two branch campuses are in the Kansas City metropolitan area on the Kansas side: the university's medical school and hospital ...

in 1963. He was a member of

Kappa Sigma Kappa Sigma (), commonly known as Kappa Sig or KSig, is an American collegiate social fraternity founded at the University of Virginia in 1869. Kappa Sigma is one of the five largest international Fraternities and sororities in North America, fr ...

fraternity.

Career

Eaton joined

General Motors General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. The company is most known for owning and manufacturing f ...

upon graduation. In 1973, he was appointed chief engineer of GM's new front-wheel-drive X-body cars. In 1982 he was promoted to the post of vice president of advanced engineering before being named president of GM Europe in 1988.

CEO

Lee Iacocca Lido Anthony "Lee" Iacocca ( ; October 15, 1924 – July 2, 2019) was an American automobile executive who developed the Ford Mustang, Lincoln Continental Mark III, and Ford Pinto cars while at the Ford Motor Company in the 1960s, and then reviv ...

found Eaton and hired him to be his successor as CEO. This was a controversial decision because Bob Lutz had been Iacocca's expected successor. Iacocca later admitted that Lutz would have been the better choice as his successor. Eaton was the chairman and CEO of Chrysler from 1993 until 1998. In that position, he was responsible for the sale of Chrysler Corporation to

Daimler-Benz Mercedes-Benz Group AG (formerly Daimler-Benz, DaimlerChrysler, and Daimler) is a Germany, German Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive company headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is o ...

, which formed

DaimlerChrysler Mercedes-Benz Group AG (formerly Daimler-Benz, DaimlerChrysler, and Daimler) is a German multinational automotive company headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is one of the world's leading car manufacturers. Daimler-B ...

. Eaton was elected as a member into the

National Academy of Engineering The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is an American Nonprofit organization, nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. It is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM), along with the National Academ ...

(NAE) in 1989 for leading design and development of modern front-wheel-drive, body-frame-integral automobiles and for introducing advanced automotive manufacturing techniques. He was also a chairman of the NAE. He was elected a director of Chevron in September 2000. Eaton has served on the board of

International Paper The International Paper Company is an American pulp and paper company, the largest such company in the world. It has approximately 39,000 employees, and is headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee. History The company was incorporated January 31 ...

. He is a trustee of the

Endowment Association.

Awards

*1994: Distinguished Service Citation from the

Alumni Association *1994: Man of the Year from the Kappa Sigma Fraternity *1995: Distinguished Engineering Service Award from the University of Kansas School of Engineering *1995: Golden Plate Award of the

American Academy of Achievement The American Academy of Achievement, colloquially known as the Academy of Achievement, is a nonprofit educational organization that recognizes some of the highest-achieving people in diverse fields and gives them the opportunity to meet one ano ...

*2005: Inducted into the University of Kansas Business Hall of FameKansas Business Hall of Fame
Profile

References

External links

"Engineering building christened Eaton Hall"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eaton, Robert James 1940 births Living people Chrysler executives Directors of Chevron Corporation Members of the United States National Academy of Engineering 20th-century American businesspeople University of Kansas alumni American chief executives in the automobile industry Chrysler people Kansas Business Hall of Fame inductees