GM's top sales exec to join Allstate

General Motors Co.'s top U.S. sales executive, who is leaving the automaker in the first exit among its new senior leaders, will become chief marketing officer of Allstate Corp., two people familiar with the matter said.

Mark LaNeve, 50, also will hold the title of senior vice president at Allstate, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the largest publicly traded home and auto insurer in the U.S. hasn't announced the hiring.

"There is an active search going on," said Rich Halberg, a spokesman for Northbrook-based Allstate. "We don't have anything to say about the search."

GM announced Oct. 7 that LaNeve would depart Oct. 16 without saying what he would do next, and appointed Buick-GMC General Manager Susan Docherty as vice president of U.S. sales. Chief Executive Officer Fritz Henderson named LaNeve to the nine-member executive committee created as GM left bankruptcy on July 10.

"We are not at liberty to disclose" where LaNeve has taken a job, said Tom Wilkinson, a spokesman for Detroit-based GM.

Business Week reported LaNeve's move earlier today.