8 CEOs on the Hot Seat

The forced resignation of General Motors (GM) Chief Executive Rick Wagoner as a condition for the struggling auto maker to receive more federal aid is unlikely to make the heads of U.S. car and financial companies sleep better at night. Indeed, if there were any questions that government funds comes with ropes and not just strings attached, well, the Wagoner reckoning should put them to rest.

That the hammer should fall first and so hard on the head of a car maker has plenty of folks scratching their heads. After all, it was the financial sector that got us into this mess in the first place, not the U.S. auto industry, which has been struggling with a host of complicated legacy problems for a long, long time.

"It is somewhat ironic that Wagoner was pushed out given that the car makers are victims of lots of issues that have been with us for many, many years, while Wall Street's problems are much more recent," says John Buckingham, chief investment officer at Al Frank Asset Management. "You could argue that it's not Wagoner's fault."

Regardless, there does appear to be a change of focus, Buckingham says, and whatever hesitancy on the part of government to jettison executives could be nearing an end. As Gary Ransom, analyst at Fox-Pitt Kelton, says of any firm taking taxpayer money: "They're all worried about government intervention. The fear is that if the government comes in, the CEO is out. That's how [the government] works."

With that in mind, we took a look at some other chieftains whose jobs could be in jeopardy now that the Obama administration has made it clear no one is untouchable. All these folks are under duress in one way or another -- but just how hot have their hot seats become?

AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari

Vikram Pandit

"I would think his would be the next head to roll," says Dan Seiver, professor of finance at San Diego State University. The matter is pretty simple, as the professor sees it. Citigroup, beneficiary of $45 billion in taxpayer largesse, has shown little progress in turning itself around under Pandit. "It's just not obvious that this is the right guy for the situation and the American taxpayer already has a lot of skin in the game," Seiver says. True, an internal Citi memo said the bank saw business improve in the first two months of the year, but that won't make a difference if populism comes into play. "Replacing Pandit might score some political points and it might make economic sense," Seiver points out.

AP Photo/Susan Walsh

Tim Geithner

Right now Secretary Geithner and his team are calling the shots -- look no further than Monday's events at GM and Chrysler for evidence. Moreover, America's Chief Executive Officer has the president's unflinching support. Obama made that clear two weeks ago on "60 Minutes." But Corporate America, Wall Street and Congress have been far less kind (at least one elected official said he should resign over the AIG bonus dustup). "As Geithner moves to try selling Americans on 'Cash for Trash', most of us are cool with tucking our very own hard-earned cash under our beds and hoping that his days leading this country out of this financial mess are soon over," Keith McCullough, CEO of Research Edge, a hedge fund research firm, told clients Monday. If things don’t improve eventually, that sentiment will grow, and Geithner, too, will be on the firing line.

AP Photos/Bebeto Matthews

Ken Lewis

With his megabank’s stock buffeted daily as government-rescue-plan headlines drive the market, Lewis struck back last month, saying BofA was profitable and didn’t need more federal aid. By getting out in front of the public relations backlash of the banking crisis and touting plans to pay back the $45 billion it already received, Lewis diverted a rising tide of criticism over bonuses that went to top Merrill Lynch executives after the investment bank was swallowed up by BofA. More recently, a Friday meeting among Obama and top bank executives “begins a healing process between government and these banks,” that will help align their interests toward transparency and stability, says Rochdale Securities bank analyst Richard Bove.

AP Photo/Susan Walsh

Robert Nardelli

Chrylser CEO Nardelli will likely keep his job, unlike GM’s Rick Wagoner, but he’s also being pushed into a union with Italian car maker Fiat S.p.A. (FIATY) that appears non-negotiable. The head of the third-largest U.S. car maker since summer 2007, Nardelli made his mark by shrinking Chrysler and embracing the rhetoric of how the auto industry should change. Whether he’ll be able to survive Chrylser’s second marriage to a foreign partner is a different question for a later time.

AP Photo/Susan Walsh

Edward Liddy

Liddy has been a focal point of populist wrath ever since he was tapped to head the world's biggest insurer last fall. It's not hard to understand why. AIG is at the heart of the global financial crisis. It was saved from insolvency through $84 billion in taxpayer money. Almost immediately Libby was put on the defensive, having to explain why the company spent $440,000 for a corporate retreat after taking a bailout. And that was child's play compared with the recent bonus scandal, in which it was revealed that AIG paid $165 million to some of the same employees who helped hobble the firm. (Some have given the money back.) But don't expect Libby to be forced out anytime soon. "Liddy is the guy the government put in," says Fox-Pitt Kelton's Ransom. That means poor Liddy's job looks secure.

AP Photo/Gerald Herbert

Alan Mulally

GM's Wagoner was forced out as a condition of the struggling auto maker receiving more government aid. As the only car maker not dependent on taxpayer dollars to stay afloat, Ford's Alan Mulally doesn't have to worry about the same kind of summary dismissal. Also working in Mulally's favor: Ford has access to credit and its finance arm last week doubled part of a planned debt buyback after finding investors were warm to the idea. That should help the company meet its goal of retiring up to $10 billion in debt. It also doesn't hurt that Mulally's turnaround mettle has been tested before: As CEO of Boeing (BA) he flew the company through industry turbulence after 9/11.

AP Photo/Mark Lennihan

Jeffrey Immelt

After sending out a humbling investor letter earlier this year, in which Immelt not only conceded bad times, but said "the global economy, and capitalism, will be ‘reset’ in several important ways," the GE chief appeared drained by the crisis. Watching shares of the nation’s bluest of blue-chip stocks slide to $5.73, an 81% loss over the last year, didn’t help. Now news that the government is exploring ways to take control of "nonbank financial institutions" raises the possibility, however remote, that GE Capital, the conglomerate’s finance unit, could be seized if it were about to fail. That leaves Immelt’s grasp on his empire as being open to question.

AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari

Men's Basketball Coach Roy Williams

OK, true, the president can’t fire a basketball coach. But let's hope the dismissal of Rick Wagoner doesn’t go to the president's head, at least for the sake of Roy Williams. Obama, a self-proclaimed college basketball fanatic, picked the Tar Heels to win the NCAA men's basketball tournament, and if they don't come up big against Villanova in Detroit this weekend, well, it will demolish the First Fan's March Madness bracket. True, North Carolina isn't dependent on staying solvent through government aid, but who knows what loophole the brainy Obama could find to force the ouster of Williams, should his team find itself bounced from the Final Four. After all, it wouldn't take the president long to find someone else to be the CEO of the Tar Heels hoops program -- Craig Robinson, head coach at Oregon State, is his brother-in-law.