Gerald C. Meyers (CIT 1950, MSIA 1954, H 2007)

Gerald Meyers, former Chairman and CEO of American Motors Corporation (AMC), was a renowned industrialist, professor, author, and management consultant. He took the helm of AMC during a recession, the youngest CEO in the auto industry at the time, and is credited with successfully leading the company’s merger with Renault.

Following his early retirement at age 53, Meyers came to the Tepper School of Business as the Ford Distinguished Research Chair and Professor of Business, later moving on to become professor of organizational behavior at the University of Michigan Business School.

Meyers also ran his own management consulting firm, conducted public speaking engagements, authored a book on crisis management, and co-authored a second.

Raised in Buffalo, NY, the son of Polish immigrants, Meyers came to Carnegie Tech to earn his bachelor’s in engineering and served as captain of the football team. To earn money and stay in athletic shape, he dug ditches on road crews during the summer.

Following a brief stint at Ford that was interrupted by Air Force service during the Korean War, Meyers returned to earn his masters degree at the Tepper School. He then headed back to Detroit and the auto industry where, following a careful life plan he’d written at age 26, he quickly rose to the top.

Meyers was honored with the CMU Alumni Association’s Alumni Achievement (Merit) Award in 1979, the Alumni Lifetime (Distinguished) Achievement Award in 1988, and an honorary doctorate of business practice in 2007.