General Motors has hired a new marketing boss from drugstore chain CVS Health.
Norm de Greve, 54, will join GM at the end of July as senior vice president and chief marketing officer. He replaces Deborah Wahl, who retired in March. De Greve will report to President Mark Reuss.
De Greve, who has worked as CMO for CVS since 2015, is credited with helping to transform CVS from a small chain to one of the largest consumer health care companies in the United States and it is now sixth place on the Fortune 500. GM said in a statement Tuesday that it hired de Greve, in part, because “CVS earned the highest national reputation in health care, became the most trusted retailer in America and consistently gained market share.”
“Norm is an experienced marketing leader with a proven track record of building brands and supporting business growth in a digital world,” Reuss said in a statement. “His broad background, including time spent at Digitas working with GM, is the perfect fit as we continue our technology-driven transformation.”
The hire may lead to GM advertising again on Twitter. The automaker has gone largely silent on Twitter since Oct. 27, the day billionaire and Tesla CEO Elon Musk bought the social media empire for $44 billion. Now that GM is partnered with Tesla on electric vehicle chargers, Barra said last month that she is open to returning to paid advertising on Twitter.
“Very shortly we’ll be announcing a new marketing officer and as Twitter comes on board (with new leaders) there’s a conversation to be had,” Barra said, when asked about starting advertising again on Twitter during a June interview at the Aspen Ideas Festival in Colorado.
De Greve has a tie to GM from years past. Before joining CVS Health, de Greve worked at digital marketing firm Digitas from 2001 to 2014. There, he was president of the Boston and Detroit offices where he spent years working to advance digital marketing for GM. He also helped transform Digitas from a regional player to a world-leading digital marketing company, GM said.
He spent the first decade of his career in investment management and management consulting, GM said.
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Contact Jamie L. LaReau: jlareau@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @jlareauan. Read more on General Motors and sign up for our autos newsletter. Become a subscriber.