717) Roger Smith

Roger Bonham Smith (1925 – 2007). Chairman and CEO of General Motors Corporation from 1981 to 1990, and is widely known as the main subject of Michael Moore's 1989 documentary film Roger & Me.
Smith seemed to be the last of the old-line GM chairmen, a conservative anonymous bureaucrat, resisting change. However, propelled by industry and market conditions, Smith oversaw some of the most fundamental changes in GM's history. When Smith took over GM, it was reeling from itsfirst annual loss since the early 1920s. Its reputation had been tarnished by lawsuits, persistent quality problems, bad labor relations, public protests over the installation of Chevrolet engines in Oldsmobiles, and by a poorly designed diesel engine. 
A controversial figure widely associated with GM's decline, Smith's tenure is commonly viewed as a failure, as GM's share of the US market fell from 46% to 35% and the company lapsed close to bankruptcy during the early 1990s recession. Consequently, CNBC has called Smith one of the "Worst American CEOs of All Time".

- "Standing at medium height and with blond-reddish hair, a ruddy complexion and a rather high-pitched voice, he hardly fit the stereotype of a boardroom tycoon." http://autonews.gasgoo.com/m/Detail/4193.html

- "Of modest height, with a weak voice, wispy red hair and blotchy skin, he looked like the self-effacing accounts clerk he was when he started at GM in 1949." https://www.theguardian.com/…/guardianobituaries.generalmot…

716) Alfred Sloan

Alfred Pritchard Sloan Jr. (1875 –1966). American business executive in the automotive industry. He was a long-time president, chairman and CEO of General Motors Corporation. Sloan, first as a senior executive and later as the head of the organization, helped GM grow from the 1920s through the 1950s, decades when concepts such as the annual model change, brand architecture, industrial engineering, automotive design (styling), and planned obsolescence transformed the industry, and when the industry changed lifestyles and the built environment in America and throughout the world.
Sloan's memoir, My Years with General Motors, written in the 1950s exemplified Sloan's vision of the professional manager and the carefully engineered corporate structure in which he worked. It is considered one of the seminal texts in the field of modern management education.

- "He had white hair that still showed a tinge of red and the temper that proverbially goes with red hair." https://books.google.it/books…

516) John Francis and Horace Elgin Dodge

John Francis (1864 – 1920) and Horace Elgin Dodge (1868 - 1920). American automobile manufacturing pioneers and founders of Dodge Brothers Company.
Horace invented the first dirt-proof ball bearing.

- "Daniel taught his red-haired sons, Horace and John, to be machinists." https://www.allpar.com/corporate/bios/dodge-brothers.html

- "Despite their wealth and growing influence in the business community, the red-haired Dodge brothers' crude manners and aggressive conduct made them socially unacceptable to most of the wealthy Detroit elite." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horace_Elgin_Dodge

- "The two "red-headed urchins" were inseparable both as kids and adults." https://www.goretro.com/…/the-real-story-of-dodge-brothers.…

515) Harry Bennett

Harry Herbert Bennett (1892 – 1979). Former boxer and ex-Navy sailor, was an executive at Ford Motor Company during the 1930s and 1940s. He was best known as the head of Ford’s Service Department, or Internal Security. While working for Ford, his union busting tactics, of which the Battle of the Overpass was a prime example, made him a foe of the United Auto Workers [see also Walter Reuther]. He was fired in 1945 by Henry Ford II, and died in Los Gatos, California, on January 4, 1979, of an undisclosed cause.

- "Red-haired Harry Bennett was five feet, six inches tall--built like a fire hydrant and just as strong. He cultivated his tough guy image by wearing a fedora, a hand gun, and a bow tie. People who knew him said he was fearless." https://fornology.blogspot.com/…/henry-fords-tough-guy-harr…

- "The red-haired, bowtie-wearing Bennett projected a tough-guy image despite his small stature. He carried guns and conducted target practice in his office in the basement of Ford's administration building." http://www.autonews.com/…/harry-bennett:-henry-fords-chief-…

514) Harold Arthur "Red" Poling

Harold Arthur "Red" Poling (1925 – 2012). U.S. automobile businessman.
He served as the president of the Ford Motor Company between 1985 and 1987, vice-chairman in 1988 and 1989,and as CEO and chairman from 1990 until 1993. He made his mark at Ford's European Operations in the late 1970s and was widely considered as a savior of the company in his stint as executive vice-president for North America in the early 1980s.

- "Nicknamed "Red" for his hair, Poling is best known for being a top executive at Ford through two recessions..." http://www.dailymail.co.uk/…/A-history-men-led-Ford-Motor-C…

- "His red hair, now close-cropped and flecked with gray, gave him his childhood nickname. Only his siblings still call him Harold, he said." https://www.nytimes.com/…/now-it-s-red-poling-s-turn-at-for…

- "Poling, whose nickname matched his hair color..." http://articles.latimes.com/…/…/la-me-harold-poling-20120516