WASHINGTON - Kent Kresa, who led General Motors as chairman during its most difficult days, isn't likely to seek re-election as a company director, The Detroit News reported.

When the Obama administration forced out GM Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner in March 2009, it named Kresa, chairman emeritus of Northrop Grumman Corp., as interim board chairman.

Kresa, who became a GM director in 2003, turned 72 in March -- the age at which GM directors customarily don't seek re-election. Renee Rashid-Merem, a GM spokeswoman, said board members "are not typically eligible" for re-election after they turn 72.

"His status is being reviewed," she said.

GM added a 13th board member in April, naming Cynthia Telles, an associate clinical professor at the University of California at Los Angeles, to that position.

But GM said the board hadn't made any decisions about whether Teller might replace Kresa. He didn't return a message left at his California home Friday.

Kresa led the automaker's board for about three months and presided over the board's decision to file for bankruptcy protection a year ago. His tenure as chairman ended when most of the company's assets were sold to the new, post-bankruptcy General Motors Co.

As part of the management shakeup, the U.S. Treasury Department, which assumed a 61 percent stake in GM Co., named former AT&T CEO Edward Whitacre Jr. as chairman.

Kresa was one of the old GM directors who became a director at the new GM. During his tenure, Kresa helped recruit four new members of GM's board.

In a June, 2009 interview, Steve Rattner, who was President Barack Obama's auto czar, praised Kresa's service as chairman, noting that he took the job on short notice.

Kresa heads the board's investment funds committee and is a member of its audit committee.