In times of trouble, companies need a solid leader to help turn their fortunes around. You only need to look at what Fiat has achieved in the past few years with Sergio Marchionne at the helm to understand the benefit of appointing a turnaround expert. To help facilitate GM's turnaround, the struggling automaker is expected to appoint Al Koch as its chief restructuring officer - an executive that has been involved with GM since the start of the year.

Koch's job will be to manage GM's poorly performing assets, which will include liquidating assets and selling off brands such as Hummer and Saturn, reports Automotive News. Koch's experience with poorly performing companies is impressive, and while GM is going through one of the nation's largest bankruptcies Koch has already been present for other major bankruptcies such as that of Kmart.

The title that Koch will be taking, that of chief restructuring officer, is a new one in GM's executive lineup but will in reality be an extension of Koch's previous work with the automaker. Bringing GM back to profitability will rely heavily on how the bad assets are managed, and with an experienced turnaround expert in the fold there may be hope for the government-owned ‘New GM’ to begin its revival.