The Blue-Collar CEO

LaSorda might never be a Vegas showman. He doesn't even act like a wealthy auto exec: he's still married to his high-school sweetheart, Doreen, his two daughters went to public universities and he refuses to buy a second home. "I don't need that stuff," he says. LaSorda is most at home around regular working people. Last month he spoke at his father's union hall. It was the first time a Chrysler CEO had ever been there, though LaSorda reminded the crowd he'd checked most of their coats 40 years before. "Years ago," said an emotional Frank LaSorda, "I wouldn't have sat at the same table with a guy like Tom." But this Chrysler CEO received a standing O. "When you're running a business, you do what's best for all ," he says. "Some people forget that when they're sitting in the boardroom." No worries about that happening to this blue-collar CEO, Chrysler's newest hybrid offering.

© 2005