GMAC CEO de Molina resigns: Board picks Carpenter to replace executive based in Charlotte.

The Detroit-based auto lender named Michael Carpenter as his replacement. Carpenter, who lives in Greenwich, Conn., is a former Citigroup Inc. executive who joined the board in May.

CEO since April 2008, deMolina has worked to turn around a company that struggled to survive in the financial crisis because of massive mortgage-related losses. He successfully converted GMAC into a bank holding company last year, but it still needed a third helping of government assistance.

In a bright spot for Charlotte's battered financial sector, GMAC announced in March plans to add 200 jobs here. The firm is scheduled to start moving 450 employees into a new building in uptown this month.

In an interview, Carpenter said he had not yet visited the Charlotte operations and wasn't familiar with the company's real estate here, but he said he wasn't planning any changes.

"We run a company that is spread around," he said. "I'm pretty comfortable running a virtual company as long as people get the job done."

De Molina resigned at the request of GMAC's board, a source familiar with the matter said. The change had been in the works for a few weeks, and other board members approached Carpenter about the job. The decision was finalized at a noon meeting in New York.

Two sources familiar with the matter said de Molina offered to leave last week after a dispute with the board over whether the company's Residential Capital mortgage unit should file for bankruptcy. DeMolina said he did not want to be part of a bankruptcy filing and wanted to protect bondholders, the sources said.

Carpenter said Residential Capital, also known as ResCap, has been "a problem for the company over a long period of time" and that "it is true that management and the board have considered every course of action, including some that people might not want to consider."

He did not specifically say whether a bankruptcy filing was an option.

Carpenter said de Molina did a "really great job" of winning government support, obtaining bank holding company status and expanding Ally Bank. But, as the board evaluated the company, members felt the company "required a more strategic approach, a more turnaround approach and a more operational approach," he said.

In a statement, de Molina said: "I came to GMAC thinking that it was a short-term assignment working through a liquidity crisis. That crisis lasted two years. With the help of government support and the incredible efforts of our team, we are now on stable footing, positioned for profitability in 2010 and beyond."

The next question for GMAC will be whether employees recruited by de Molina stay. The former Bank of America chief financial officer has been seen as a possible new CEO for Bank of America, but that doesn't seem likely.

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