• by Tanya Gazdik , October 5, 2021

Edward Kummer, a former Nordstrom and Walt Disney executive, is joining General Motors as its chief digital officer and will lead its newly formed Digital Business unit. 

Effective Oct. 16. Kummer will be responsible for building and delivering a holistic digital business guided by GM's Growth Strategy and accelerating software investments that will redefine consumer expectations. He will report to GM President Mark Reuss.

He brings a breadth of expertise leading omni-channel, marketing and digital efforts across multiple industries that have digitally transformed for the benefit of the consumer and business growth, including travel, wealth management, consumer products, retail and entertainment, according to the automaker. 

Kummer was president of Nordstrom Rack's online business and Nordstrom's HauteLook brand, where he led an integrated online site and executed an omni-channel strategy, resulting in increased online sales and significant profit growth. 

He also spent 18 years of his career at the Walt Disney Company in multiple strategic leadership roles. After Disney, he led digital and e-commerce strategies for a variety of companies, including Victoria's Secret and Luxottica, and served as chief marketing and digital officer for Oakley.  Prior to joining Nordstrom, he was a managing director and chief marketing officer at Goldman Sachs. 

As GM’s business model evolves to reflect the role that software plays in  products and services, and the new opportunities it enables, Kummer's track record of digital and e-commerce expertise and leadership make him an asset, Reuss says. 

"We are creating new digital experiences for our customers, both inside and outside of the vehicle, to enhance their lives and keep them connected to an increasingly digital world," Reuss said in a release. 

Kummer will lead a dedicated digital team structured around GM's digital lines of business, each with a dedicated commercial leader who will be accountable for all aspects of the operations. 

This integrated approach will connect value chains and capitalize on adjacencies, with the goal of enabling GM to move faster and grow its digital business while remaining hyper-focused on speed of service to the customer, according to the automaker. 

Kummer says he is “passionate” about GM's zero-crashes, zero-emissions and zero-congestion vision, especially its impactful role in sustainable transportation.