Mary Barra Named GM’s New CEO
One
day after the U.S. government shed the remainder of its General Motors
stock, today GM announced a shuffling of its executive ranks, including
Mary Barra as its new CEO.
Effective January 2014, GM’s current CEO Dan Akerson, 65, will step
down – a decision that he said was hastened by his wife’s having
recently been diagnosed with advanced stage cancer.
Barra, 51, was voted in by the GM board of directors, making her the first female CEO of a global automaker.
She’d started with GM 33 years ago as an intern, and during her
career was sent back as a promising employee to earn her MBA from the
Stanford Graduate School of Business, and it would appear GM’s tuition
investment is yet paying off.
Mary Barra.
During her tenure, she has served in numerous roles of high
responsibility, and presently holds the title of executive vice
president, Global Product Development, Purchasing and Supply Chain.
She has effectively been in charge of GM products for the past 22
months as the automaker continues working toward departing from the
aftermath of its bankruptcy and restructuring.
General Motors specifically credits her with “revitalizing GM’s
product development process resulting in the launch of critically
acclaimed new products while delivering record product quality ratings
and higher customer satisfaction.”
While industry watchers are wondering what her long-term vision is,
and how she may get through some of the automaker’s existing corporate
cultural hurdles, Barra benignly said she aims to keep rolling along.
“With an amazing portfolio of cars and trucks and the strongest
financial performance in our recent history, this is an exciting time at
today’s GM,” said Barra. “I’m honored to lead the best team in the
business and to keep our momentum at full speed.”
And beyond the chief spot, another change of roles was also announced
for Dan Ammann, 41, executive vice president and chief financial
officer.
Ammann was named company president and will assume responsibility for
managing the company’s regional operations around the world. The global
Chevrolet and Cadillac brand organizations and GM Financial will also
report to Ammann.
GM said Ammann will retain CFO responsibilities at least through the
release of the company’s fourth quarter and full-year 2013 results in
early February 2014. His replacement as CFO will be named later.
Replacing Barra is Mark Reuss, 50, executive vice president and president, North America.
And replacing Reuss is Alan Batey, currently senior vice president, Global Chevrolet and U.S. Sales and Marketing.
The company said also that Steve Girsky, 51, vice chairman, Corporate
Strategy, Business Development and Global Product Planning is
effectively being pushed out.
In polite corporate speak, GM stated Girsky “will move to a senior
advisor role until leaving the company in April 2014. He will remain on
the GM Board of Directors.”
Commenting on the changing of the guard, Dan Akerson – who was
appointed CEO on Sept. 1, 2010 and since 2009 had been a member of its
board of directors – said GM is on much better footing, and is prepared
to move forward.
“My goals as CEO were to put the customer at the center of every
decision we make, to position GM for long term success and to make GM a
company that America can be proud of again,” Akerson said. “We are well
down that path, and I’m certain that our new team will keep us moving
in that direction.”
GM also is portraying its accomplishments, and as a study which was just released
asserts, its bankruptcy and restructuring is believed to have saved as
much as eight-times the economic cost thhta it would if not bailed out.
“Since the company’s November 2010 Initial Public Offering, GM has
recorded 15 consecutive quarters of profitability, has earned this year
the best overall initial vehicle quality scores of any auto
manufacturer, and has re-invested nearly $9 billion and created or
retained more than 25,000 jobs at its U.S plants.”