Bush names Gutierrez for Commerce

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President Bush yesterday nominated Cuban-born Carlos Gutierrez, who once sold Frosted Flakes cereal from a van in Mexico and rose to head the nation's largest cereal company, for the post of commerce secretary.

The nomination of the chief executive officer of the Kellogg Company marks the second time since Mr. Bush's re-election that he has chosen a Hispanic for his Cabinet.

"Carlos Gutierrez is one of America's most respected business leaders," Mr. Bush said in a White House announcement. "He is a great American success story. [Mr. Gutierrez] has been an effective, visionary executive. He understands the world of business, from the first rung on the ladder to the very top."

Two weeks after naming Alberto Gonzales as his attorney general nominee, the president continued to reward Hispanics -- especially Cubans. Exit polls showed that Mr. Bush boosted his share of Hispanic votes to 44 percent, up 11 percentage points from 2000. Cubans in Florida voted overwhelmingly for Mr. Bush, helping him win that state's 27 electoral votes.

Mr. Gutierrez, 51, was 6 years old when Fidel Castro's guerrillas seized Havana.

"I have had the opportunity to live that American dream, so I know that the president's vision is noble, I know it's real and I know it's tangible," Mr. Gutierrez said.

After coming to the United States in the 1960s, he said, his family "started essentially from scratch at that time. Almost 30 years later, I joined the Kellogg Company and started selling cereal out of a van in Mexico City."

Mr. Bush noted that as a young immigrant, Mr. Gutierrez "learned English from a bellhop in a Miami" hotel and "took his first job for Kellogg as a truck driver, delivering Frosted Flakes to local stores."

But Mr. Gutierrez rose quickly after joining the giant cereal company in 1975. By 1984, he was the company's supervisor for Latin American marketing services. In 1989, he was appointed president and chief executive officer of Kellogg Canada Inc. He became general manager of the Battle Creek, Mich.-based U.S. cereal division in 1993. In 1998, he was appointed president and chief operating officer of the company.

Last year, Mr. Gutierrez received about $7.5 million in total compensation, including salary, bonus and incentive payments, according to a Kellogg proxy statement. He owns or has option rights to 2 million shares of company stock.