- This page is about the Cuban-American executive Carlos M. Gutiérrez. See Carlos Gutiérrez for other people of the same name.
Carlos M. Gutierrez (originally Gutiérrez) (born November 4, 1953) is the 35th U.S. Secretary of Commerce, succeeding Donald Evans. Gutierrez is a former Chairman of the Board and CEO of the Kellogg Company.
Gutierrez was born in Havana, Cuba, the son of a pineapple plantation owner. Faced with the expropriation of their property, his family fled for the United States in 1960 when he was six years old. Like many other Cuban refugees, they settled in Miami. Gutierrez learned his first words of English from the bellhop at the hotel where they initially stayed and, some years later, he and his family acquired U.S. citizenship. He has a wife, two daughters and a son.
The family moved once again – this time to Mexico, where Gutiérrez studied business administration at the Monterrey Institute of Technology's campus in Santiago de Querétaro. He joined Kellogg's in 1975 as a sales representative and management trainee. One of his early assignments included driving a delivery-truck route around local stores.
He rose through the management ranks, and in January 1990, he was promoted to corporate vice president of product development at the company's headquarters in Battle Creek, Michigan, and in July of the same year, he became executive vice president of Kellogg USA. In January 1999, he was elected to the company's Board of Directors and by April, he was appointed president and CEO.
On November 29, 2004, he was chosen by President George W. Bush to be his next term's Secretary of Commerce, succeeding Donald Evans if confirmed by the Senate. On the same day, Kellogg's Board of Directors accepted Gutierrez's resignation as Chairman of the Board and CEO, to be effective upon his confirmation by the Senate and swearing in. The board selected James M. Jenness to succeed Gutierrez as Chairman and CEO. It also elected Kellogg President and Chief Operating Officer A.D. David Mackay to the board. Gutierrez was confirmed on January 24, 2005 and sworn in on February 7, 2005.
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