Nissan’s 54-year old CFO retires

Joe Peter, who spent most of his career at General Motors, has retired as CFO of Nissan Motor Co. in Yokohama, Japan.

Peter, 54, was recruited from GM’s senior finance ranks to Nissan during the 2009 financial crisis as Nissan struggled to stem losses and conserve cash amid crashing world markets.

His replacement as CFO, effective immediately, is Hiroshi Karube, 62. Karube was previously senior vice president, global controller, accounting and global asset management.

Efforts to reach Peter were unsuccessful.

Peter was responsible for Nissan’s worldwide financial planning, control, accounting, treasury, tax, investor relations and merger and acquisition support. He also was a member of Nissan’s executive committee and chairman of the board of directors of the sales finance companies in Japan, United States and Mexico.

A Detroit native and son of an assembly line worker, Peter rose at GM to the position of CFO of the automaker’s international operations in Shanghai before being recruited to Nissan.

Karube went to work at Nissan in 1980 and has held several key roles in finance, including global responsibility for accounting and asset management.