GM Hires Former Activision, Boeing Lawyer as Legal Chief (1)

General Motors Co. has hired Grant Dixton to be its new chief legal and public policy officer as of July 15, succeeding longtime law head Craig Glidden.

Dixton will report to GM’s chief executive, Mary Barra, and oversee the Detroit-based company’s legal, compliance, corporate governance, privacy, and public policy functions, the automaker said in a Tuesday statement. He was most recently the top lawyer at Activision Blizzard Inc., which was sold last year to Microsoft Corp.

Glidden, who earned more than $11 million in total compensation last year at GM, is relinquishing his role leading the company’s legal, policy, and cybersecurity teams to focus on his position as president and chief administrative officer at Cruise. The San Francisco-based subsidiary grounded its fleet of vehicles and dismissed nine executives—including former legal chief Jeffrey Bleich—following an accident last year involving one of its robotaxis.

Dixton is a “respected leader and legal expert who has a deep understanding of the transportation, manufacturing, and technology sectors,” Barra said in the statement. GM cited Dixton’s prior work managing “complex business transactions and regulatory issues,” as well as his expertise advising on governance, litigation, intellectual property, and labor matters.

The former US Supreme Court clerk has served as general counsel and corporate secretary for the Boeing Co., a litigator at Kirkland & Ellis, and associate counsel in the White House during the George W. Bush administration.

Dixton during his three years at Activision helped it navigate a revolt by some employees and overcome regulatory scrutiny related to the video game maker’s eventual $69 billion acquisition by Microsoft in October.

At Cruise, Glidden will oversee legal, government affairs, finance, human resources, and communications, GM said. He’ll also work closely with Marc Whitten, a former executive at Amazon.com Inc. who has joined Cruise as its new leader, according to Bloomberg News.

Glidden, who took over from GM’s former legal chief Michael Millikin in 2015, will remain a strategic adviser to the company. He received a $2 million equity award during fiscal 2023 for taking on additional duties at Cruise, as disclosed by GM in its most recent proxy statement.

Dixton’s exit package at Activision, which he left earlier this year, was estimated by the company in securities filings to be roughly $14 million.