G.M. Names First Female Chief Executive
12-10-2013, 07:01 PM
#1
Race Director
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G.M. Names First Female Chief Executive
She grew up in a G.M. family. Her father was a die-maker for the company for 39 years, and she is deeply attached to cars, routinely test-driving new models at G.M.'s proving grounds in the Detroit suburb of Milford. She and her husband, Tony, a management consultant, have owned a number of Chevrolet Camaro muscle cars over the years. Currently, Ms. Barra drives a Cadillac CTS sedan – one of several important new models developed during her tenure as head of global product development.
By BILL VLASIC
Published: December 10, 2013 179 Comments
DETROIT — General Motors announced Tuesday that its chief executive, Daniel F. Akerson, would retire next month and be succeeded by Mary T. Barra, who would become the first woman to lead a major auto company.
Mary T. Barra will become the first female chief executive of General Motors.
Mary T. Barra was on hand at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit in January 2013.
The elevation of Ms. Barra, 51, to the chief executive post is the latest dramatic change at the top of General Motors since its bailout by the federal government in 2009.
G.M., the nation’s largest automaker, said that Mr. Akerson, 65, would step down as chief executive and chairman on Jan. 15. His planned retirement was hastened, the company said, by his wife’s recent cancer diagnosis.
Ms. Barra has worked for G.M. for 33 years and was most recently the executive vice president of global product development. She is considered a critical player in the overhaul of company’s vehicle lineups around the world.
The G.M. board approved Ms. Barra’s selection and named her a director of the company.
“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 G.M.,” Ms. Barra said in the company statement. “I’m honored to lead the best team in the business and to keep our momentum at full speed.”
Ms. Barra, who is married and the mother of two children, joined General Motors in 1980 as a co-op student in the company’s Pontiac division. An electrical engineer by training, she worked in a variety of engineering posts and managed an assembly plant, among other jobs, before being named head of the company’s human resources department in 2009.
After being promoted by Mr. Akerson to lead G.M.'s global product development in 2011, Ms. Barra set out to streamline the company’s historically bureaucratic vehicle development process. She has been an advocate of reducing the number of global vehicle platforms that G.M. uses around the world, an approach that saves money and reduces complexity among its product lines.
“G.M. is in more than capable hands, as we’ve seen some of the best products released under Mary Barra, who has helped oversee the development of their vehicles on a global scale,” said Jared Rowe, president of the automobile research firm Kelley Blue Book.
The announcement of Mr. Akerson’s retirement came a day after the Treasury Department said it had sold the last of the G.M. stock that taxpayers received in exchange for the government’s $49.5 billion bailout of the company.
Mr. Akerson was among the new directors that the government installed after the bailout. He became chief executive in 2010 and led the automaker through its initial public stock offering and subsequent turnaround.
“I will leave with great satisfaction in what we have accomplished, great optimism over what is ahead and great pride that we are restoring General Motors as America’s standard-bearer in the global auto industry,” Mr. Akerson said.
G.M. said that Mr. Akerson’s successor as chairman of the board would be Theodore M. Solso, the former chairman and chief executive of Cummins, the engine manufacturer.
Ms. Barra was not immediately made available by G.M. for comment.
The choice of Ms. Barra as the next chief executive was not totally unexpected in Detroit, where she had been considered among a handful of internal candidates for the job.
Still, the selection of a woman to lead the nation’s biggest auto company is sure to reverberate throughout the corporate world as a milestone for both G.M. and the industry.
“I never thought I’d see the day that a woman would head a car company – much less the biggest car company in America,” said Michelle Krebs, an analyst with the auto research site Edmunds.com.
“But Mary Barra’s elevation to C.E.O. of General Motors is not just about filling a female quota,” said Ms. Krebs. “Mary is an extremely competent automotive executive who has proven herself repeatedly.”
The company’s board met over the weekend to vote on Mr. Akerson’s replacement. He told reporters there was brief consideration of going outside for a new chief executive, but the directors decided to focus on internal candidates and unanimously chose Ms. Barra.
“Mary was picked for her talent, not her gender,” Mr. Akerson said.
He described Ms. Barra as highly experienced both in management and product skills, but also as having “an ability with people.” He said she “brought order to chaos” in the company’s vast product development organization, and drove change in how G.M. conceived new vehicles and brought them to market efficiently and at lower cost.
“This is an executive who has a vision of where she wants to take the organization,” Mr. Akerson said.
On a personal note, he said, promoting Ms. Barra to the top job was an emotional moment for him. “It was almost like watching your daughter graduate from college,” he said.
Ms. Barra is known inside G.M. as a consensus builder who calls her staff together on a moment’s notice to brainstorm on pressing issues. An early riser who is often in her office by 6 a.m., Ms. Barra has a soft-spoken manner that belies her intensity on the job. “Problems don’t solve themselves,” she is fond of saying, according to a person who works closely with her but was not authorized to comment publicly. “They don’t go away – they just get bigger.”
She grew up in a G.M. family. Her father was a die-maker for the company for 39 years, and she is deeply attached to cars, routinely test-driving new models at G.M.'s proving grounds in the Detroit suburb of Milford. She and her husband, Tony, a management consultant, have owned a number of Chevrolet Camaro muscle cars over the years. Currently, Ms. Barra drives a Cadillac CTS sedan – one of several important new models developed during her tenure as head of global product development.
One of her initiatives has been to assign engineers to work in dealerships to learn more about what customers want and need in their cars and trucks. And Ms. Barra has a competitive streak, particularly when it comes to beating rival automakers. “We’re not developing models to participate in a segment,” she told members of her team at a recent meeting. “We’re developing models to win in a segment.”
The decision to split the chief executive and chairman roles was part of an overall effort to balance and spread responsibilities among senior leaders of the company, Mr. Akerson said.
“We’ve tried to establish a culture here as a team rather than personalities,” he said.
The company also said that its chief financial officer, Dan Ammann, would become president of General Motors and assume responsibility for regional operations and global brand organizations.
Mr. Ammann, 41, will retain the C.F.O. job until a successor is named.
Other changes include the move of Mark Reuss, who had been chief of G.M.'s North American operations, to Ms. Barra’s job as head of product development. Mr. Reuss had also been considered a candidate for the chief executive position.
G.M. also announced that Stephen J. Girsky, who is a vice chairman of the company, would move to a senior advisory role until leaving the company in April. He will remain on the General Motors board.
Last edited by BlueOx; 12-10-2013 at 07:12 PM.
12-10-2013, 08:24 PM
#5
Race Director
12-10-2013, 08:41 PM
#6
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Thread Starter
http://www.gm.com/company/corporate-officers
12-10-2013, 08:45 PM
#7
I hope she has a passion for performance in cars. GM has been coming out with some great products...I hope they keep it up.
12-10-2013, 08:47 PM
#8
Le Mans Master
Good for her. Sounds like she comes from good stock. Since her father was a career tool and die guy, it's likely she's not a maniacal anti-labor goofball and will focus on making GM the great company it has been in the past. Being a lifelong women's advocate, I'm delighted to see a quality woman advance to the top spot.
12-10-2013, 08:56 PM
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12-10-2013, 08:58 PM
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Two other critical moves include the promotion of Mark Reuss, a veteran engineer and currently president of North American operations. He will replace Barra as global product development chief.
“The driver’s seat of designing and engineering the strongest product line up in GM’s history is the best seat to have,” said the 50-year-old Reuss. “We’re going to keep the pedal down on GM’s product resurgence and keep winning new customers.”
Meanwhile, Chevrolet’s global marketing chief Alan Batey, also 50, will replace Reuss at the helm of GM’s core North American operations.
“The driver’s seat of designing and engineering the strongest product line up in GM’s history is the best seat to have,” said the 50-year-old Reuss. “We’re going to keep the pedal down on GM’s product resurgence and keep winning new customers.”
Meanwhile, Chevrolet’s global marketing chief Alan Batey, also 50, will replace Reuss at the helm of GM’s core North American operations.
http://www.nbcnews.com/business/gene...ceo-2D11722082
Last edited by BlueOx; 12-10-2013 at 09:03 PM.
12-10-2013, 09:01 PM
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After being promoted by Mr. Akerson to lead G.M.'s global product development in 2011, Ms. Barra set out to streamline the company’s historically bureaucratic vehicle development process. She has been an advocate of reducing the number of global vehicle platforms that G.M. uses around the world, an approach that saves money and reduces complexity among its product lines.
12-10-2013, 09:02 PM
#13
Melting Slicks
Well, she did already out-rank him pretty significantly so it may not be too unexpected. She was already a Global Exec VP and he was just NA Exec VP.
http://www.gm.com/company/corporate-officers
http://www.gm.com/company/corporate-officers
12-10-2013, 09:06 PM
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St. Jude Donor '15
"In honor of jpee"
I'm hoping she's a quality person for GM's future, regardless of being male or female. They've certainly had their share of duds in the past.
12-10-2013, 09:58 PM
#17
Peter De Lorenzo as usual cuts through the ******** over at Autoextremist. Sounds like a disastrous pick. Everyone inside wanted Reuss, who was treated like ****. Expect good people to leave now.
12-10-2013, 10:03 PM
#18
Drifting
Gm no longer government motors
Going along with this article, this is a quote from Forbes today:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/joannmul...ound-any-more/
Taxpayers Don't Have Government Motors To Kick Around Any More
The Renaissance Center in Detroit, Michigan, is General Motors’ world headquarters. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The U.S. Treasury today announced that it has sold all of the remaining shares of General Motors GM -1.22% common stock, ending four-and-a-half years of government ownership.
Taxpayers recouped about $39 billion of the $50.1 billion pumped into GM in late 2008 and 2009 as the Bush and Obama administrations tried to save the car maker from collapse after years of mismanagement brought to a head by a crippling credit crisis and economic recession. The sale will put an end to restrictions on executive pay, which will help GM attract top talent, and could pave the way for new dividends or share repurchases, both of which would please investors.
Historians, economists and politicians will continue to debate whether the bailout was a good idea, but there was no disagreement Monday that it was good for this episode to be over.
“The President’s leadership in responding to the financial crisis helped stabilize the auto industry, and prevent another Great Depression. With the final sale of GM stock, this important chapter in our nation’s history is now closed,” said Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew.
“The U.S. Treasury’s ownership exit closes just one chapter in GM’s ongoing turnaround story,” said GM chief executive Dan Akerson. “We will always be grateful for the second chance extended to us and we are doing our best to make the most of it. Today is not dramatically different from the hundreds of preceding days during which we have worked to make GM a company our country can be proud of again.”
Despite the $11 billion loss on the GM bailout, the Treasury Department was quick to point out that it has recovered a total of $432.7 billion on all investments under the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) – including the sale of its shares in AIG – compared to $421.8 billion disbursed. Treasury said it will continue to wind down the remaining investments”in a manner that balances maximizing the taxpayer’s return on investments with the speed of our exit.”
A study released Monday by the Center for Automotive Research concluded that the government bailout of GM spared 1.2 million jobs in 2009 and preserved $39.4 billion in personal and social insurance tax collections in 2009 and 2010. “Any complete cost-benefit assessment of the federal assistance to GM in its restructuring must consider the total net returns to the public investment…” researchers Sean McAlinden and Debra Maranger Menk wrote in “The Effect on the U.S. Economy of the Successful Restructuring of General Motors.”
“If the U.S. government had refused to assist (GM and Chrysler)… in a financial crisis of unprecedented proportions, then the whole U.S. economy was operating without a safety net, with the exception, of course, of the banking system,” McAlinden and Maranger Menk conclude. The center independently funded the new study as a follow up to a November 2008 analysis.
“The bottom line is that a failed GM would have left a lot of collateral damage,” said Karl Brauer, senior analyst at Kelley Blue Book. “Instead, GM is profitable, it’s making the best products in its 100-plus-year history, and it’s growing sales in the U.S. and globally. In looking at the recent history of government intervention, this one rates pretty well.”
Not everyone will agree, however, and GM may never fully recover from the bruises to its reputation inflicted by its dependence on government assistance.
But Akerson said a now-healthy GM is focused on the future. “Continued investments, innovation, and job creation are just some of the “returns” of a healthy GM and domestic auto industry. Our work continues uninterrupted, and we will keep our sights squarely on our customers and transforming the way we do business.”
http://www.forbes.com/sites/joannmul...ound-any-more/
Taxpayers Don't Have Government Motors To Kick Around Any More
The Renaissance Center in Detroit, Michigan, is General Motors’ world headquarters. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)The U.S. Treasury today announced that it has sold all of the remaining shares of General Motors GM -1.22% common stock, ending four-and-a-half years of government ownership.
Taxpayers recouped about $39 billion of the $50.1 billion pumped into GM in late 2008 and 2009 as the Bush and Obama administrations tried to save the car maker from collapse after years of mismanagement brought to a head by a crippling credit crisis and economic recession. The sale will put an end to restrictions on executive pay, which will help GM attract top talent, and could pave the way for new dividends or share repurchases, both of which would please investors.
Historians, economists and politicians will continue to debate whether the bailout was a good idea, but there was no disagreement Monday that it was good for this episode to be over.
“The President’s leadership in responding to the financial crisis helped stabilize the auto industry, and prevent another Great Depression. With the final sale of GM stock, this important chapter in our nation’s history is now closed,” said Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew.
“The U.S. Treasury’s ownership exit closes just one chapter in GM’s ongoing turnaround story,” said GM chief executive Dan Akerson. “We will always be grateful for the second chance extended to us and we are doing our best to make the most of it. Today is not dramatically different from the hundreds of preceding days during which we have worked to make GM a company our country can be proud of again.”
Despite the $11 billion loss on the GM bailout, the Treasury Department was quick to point out that it has recovered a total of $432.7 billion on all investments under the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) – including the sale of its shares in AIG – compared to $421.8 billion disbursed. Treasury said it will continue to wind down the remaining investments”in a manner that balances maximizing the taxpayer’s return on investments with the speed of our exit.”
A study released Monday by the Center for Automotive Research concluded that the government bailout of GM spared 1.2 million jobs in 2009 and preserved $39.4 billion in personal and social insurance tax collections in 2009 and 2010. “Any complete cost-benefit assessment of the federal assistance to GM in its restructuring must consider the total net returns to the public investment…” researchers Sean McAlinden and Debra Maranger Menk wrote in “The Effect on the U.S. Economy of the Successful Restructuring of General Motors.”
“If the U.S. government had refused to assist (GM and Chrysler)… in a financial crisis of unprecedented proportions, then the whole U.S. economy was operating without a safety net, with the exception, of course, of the banking system,” McAlinden and Maranger Menk conclude. The center independently funded the new study as a follow up to a November 2008 analysis.
“The bottom line is that a failed GM would have left a lot of collateral damage,” said Karl Brauer, senior analyst at Kelley Blue Book. “Instead, GM is profitable, it’s making the best products in its 100-plus-year history, and it’s growing sales in the U.S. and globally. In looking at the recent history of government intervention, this one rates pretty well.”
Not everyone will agree, however, and GM may never fully recover from the bruises to its reputation inflicted by its dependence on government assistance.
But Akerson said a now-healthy GM is focused on the future. “Continued investments, innovation, and job creation are just some of the “returns” of a healthy GM and domestic auto industry. Our work continues uninterrupted, and we will keep our sights squarely on our customers and transforming the way we do business.”
12-10-2013, 10:09 PM
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Go Mary Barra
G.M. Names First Female Chief Executive
By BILL VLASIC
Published: December 10, 2013 179 Comments
DETROIT — General Motors announced Tuesday that its chief executive, Daniel F. Akerson, would retire next month and be succeeded by Mary T. Barra, who would become the first woman to lead a major auto company.
Mary T. Barra will become the first female chief executive of General Motors.
Mary T. Barra was on hand at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit in January 2013.
The elevation of Ms. Barra, 51, to the chief executive post is the latest dramatic change at the top of General Motors since its bailout by the federal government in 2009.
G.M., the nation’s largest automaker, said that Mr. Akerson, 65, would step down as chief executive and chairman on Jan. 15. His planned retirement was hastened, the company said, by his wife’s recent cancer diagnosis.
Ms. Barra has worked for G.M. for 33 years and was most recently the executive vice president of global product development. She is considered a critical player in the overhaul of company’s vehicle lineups around the world.
The G.M. board approved Ms. Barra’s selection and named her a director of the company.
“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 G.M.,” Ms. Barra said in the company statement. “I’m honored to lead the best team in the business and to keep our momentum at full speed.”
Ms. Barra, who is married and the mother of two children, joined General Motors in 1980 as a co-op student in the company’s Pontiac division. An electrical engineer by training, she worked in a variety of engineering posts and managed an assembly plant, among other jobs, before being named head of the company’s human resources department in 2009.
After being promoted by Mr. Akerson to lead G.M.'s global product development in 2011, Ms. Barra set out to streamline the company’s historically bureaucratic vehicle development process. She has been an advocate of reducing the number of global vehicle platforms that G.M. uses around the world, an approach that saves money and reduces complexity among its product lines.
“G.M. is in more than capable hands, as we’ve seen some of the best products released under Mary Barra, who has helped oversee the development of their vehicles on a global scale,” said Jared Rowe, president of the automobile research firm Kelley Blue Book.
The announcement of Mr. Akerson’s retirement came a day after the Treasury Department said it had sold the last of the G.M. stock that taxpayers received in exchange for the government’s $49.5 billion bailout of the company.
Mr. Akerson was among the new directors that the government installed after the bailout. He became chief executive in 2010 and led the automaker through its initial public stock offering and subsequent turnaround.
“I will leave with great satisfaction in what we have accomplished, great optimism over what is ahead and great pride that we are restoring General Motors as America’s standard-bearer in the global auto industry,” Mr. Akerson said.
G.M. said that Mr. Akerson’s successor as chairman of the board would be Theodore M. Solso, the former chairman and chief executive of Cummins, the engine manufacturer.
Ms. Barra was not immediately made available by G.M. for comment.
The choice of Ms. Barra as the next chief executive was not totally unexpected in Detroit, where she had been considered among a handful of internal candidates for the job.
Still, the selection of a woman to lead the nation’s biggest auto company is sure to reverberate throughout the corporate world as a milestone for both G.M. and the industry.
“I never thought I’d see the day that a woman would head a car company – much less the biggest car company in America,” said Michelle Krebs, an analyst with the auto research site Edmunds.com.
“But Mary Barra’s elevation to C.E.O. of General Motors is not just about filling a female quota,” said Ms. Krebs. “Mary is an extremely competent automotive executive who has proven herself repeatedly.”
The company’s board met over the weekend to vote on Mr. Akerson’s replacement. He told reporters there was brief consideration of going outside for a new chief executive, but the directors decided to focus on internal candidates and unanimously chose Ms. Barra.
“Mary was picked for her talent, not her gender,” Mr. Akerson said.
He described Ms. Barra as highly experienced both in management and product skills, but also as having “an ability with people.” He said she “brought order to chaos” in the company’s vast product development organization, and drove change in how G.M. conceived new vehicles and brought them to market efficiently and at lower cost.
“This is an executive who has a vision of where she wants to take the organization,” Mr. Akerson said.
On a personal note, he said, promoting Ms. Barra to the top job was an emotional moment for him. “It was almost like watching your daughter graduate from college,” he said.
Ms. Barra is known inside G.M. as a consensus builder who calls her staff together on a moment’s notice to brainstorm on pressing issues. An early riser who is often in her office by 6 a.m., Ms. Barra has a soft-spoken manner that belies her intensity on the job. “Problems don’t solve themselves,” she is fond of saying, according to a person who works closely with her but was not authorized to comment publicly. “They don’t go away – they just get bigger.”
She grew up in a G.M. family. Her father was a die-maker for the company for 39 years, and she is deeply attached to cars, routinely test-driving new models at G.M.'s proving grounds in the Detroit suburb of Milford. She and her husband, Tony, a management consultant, have owned a number of Chevrolet Camaro muscle cars over the years. Currently, Ms. Barra drives a Cadillac CTS sedan – one of several important new models developed during her tenure as head of global product development.
One of her initiatives has been to assign engineers to work in dealerships to learn more about what customers want and need in their cars and trucks. And Ms. Barra has a competitive streak, particularly when it comes to beating rival automakers. “We’re not developing models to participate in a segment,” she told members of her team at a recent meeting. “We’re developing models to win in a segment.”
The decision to split the chief executive and chairman roles was part of an overall effort to balance and spread responsibilities among senior leaders of the company, Mr. Akerson said.
“We’ve tried to establish a culture here as a team rather than personalities,” he said.
The company also said that its chief financial officer, Dan Ammann, would become president of General Motors and assume responsibility for regional operations and global brand organizations.
Mr. Ammann, 41, will retain the C.F.O. job until a successor is named.
Other changes include the move of Mark Reuss, who had been chief of G.M.'s North American operations, to Ms. Barra’s job as head of product development. Mr. Reuss had also been considered a candidate for the chief executive position.
G.M. also announced that Stephen J. Girsky, who is a vice chairman of the company, would move to a senior advisory role until leaving the company in April. He will remain on the General Motors board.
By BILL VLASIC
Published: December 10, 2013 179 Comments
DETROIT — General Motors announced Tuesday that its chief executive, Daniel F. Akerson, would retire next month and be succeeded by Mary T. Barra, who would become the first woman to lead a major auto company.
Mary T. Barra will become the first female chief executive of General Motors.
Mary T. Barra was on hand at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit in January 2013.
The elevation of Ms. Barra, 51, to the chief executive post is the latest dramatic change at the top of General Motors since its bailout by the federal government in 2009.
G.M., the nation’s largest automaker, said that Mr. Akerson, 65, would step down as chief executive and chairman on Jan. 15. His planned retirement was hastened, the company said, by his wife’s recent cancer diagnosis.
Ms. Barra has worked for G.M. for 33 years and was most recently the executive vice president of global product development. She is considered a critical player in the overhaul of company’s vehicle lineups around the world.
The G.M. board approved Ms. Barra’s selection and named her a director of the company.
“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 G.M.,” Ms. Barra said in the company statement. “I’m honored to lead the best team in the business and to keep our momentum at full speed.”
Ms. Barra, who is married and the mother of two children, joined General Motors in 1980 as a co-op student in the company’s Pontiac division. An electrical engineer by training, she worked in a variety of engineering posts and managed an assembly plant, among other jobs, before being named head of the company’s human resources department in 2009.
After being promoted by Mr. Akerson to lead G.M.'s global product development in 2011, Ms. Barra set out to streamline the company’s historically bureaucratic vehicle development process. She has been an advocate of reducing the number of global vehicle platforms that G.M. uses around the world, an approach that saves money and reduces complexity among its product lines.
“G.M. is in more than capable hands, as we’ve seen some of the best products released under Mary Barra, who has helped oversee the development of their vehicles on a global scale,” said Jared Rowe, president of the automobile research firm Kelley Blue Book.
The announcement of Mr. Akerson’s retirement came a day after the Treasury Department said it had sold the last of the G.M. stock that taxpayers received in exchange for the government’s $49.5 billion bailout of the company.
Mr. Akerson was among the new directors that the government installed after the bailout. He became chief executive in 2010 and led the automaker through its initial public stock offering and subsequent turnaround.
“I will leave with great satisfaction in what we have accomplished, great optimism over what is ahead and great pride that we are restoring General Motors as America’s standard-bearer in the global auto industry,” Mr. Akerson said.
G.M. said that Mr. Akerson’s successor as chairman of the board would be Theodore M. Solso, the former chairman and chief executive of Cummins, the engine manufacturer.
Ms. Barra was not immediately made available by G.M. for comment.
The choice of Ms. Barra as the next chief executive was not totally unexpected in Detroit, where she had been considered among a handful of internal candidates for the job.
Still, the selection of a woman to lead the nation’s biggest auto company is sure to reverberate throughout the corporate world as a milestone for both G.M. and the industry.
“I never thought I’d see the day that a woman would head a car company – much less the biggest car company in America,” said Michelle Krebs, an analyst with the auto research site Edmunds.com.
“But Mary Barra’s elevation to C.E.O. of General Motors is not just about filling a female quota,” said Ms. Krebs. “Mary is an extremely competent automotive executive who has proven herself repeatedly.”
The company’s board met over the weekend to vote on Mr. Akerson’s replacement. He told reporters there was brief consideration of going outside for a new chief executive, but the directors decided to focus on internal candidates and unanimously chose Ms. Barra.
“Mary was picked for her talent, not her gender,” Mr. Akerson said.
He described Ms. Barra as highly experienced both in management and product skills, but also as having “an ability with people.” He said she “brought order to chaos” in the company’s vast product development organization, and drove change in how G.M. conceived new vehicles and brought them to market efficiently and at lower cost.
“This is an executive who has a vision of where she wants to take the organization,” Mr. Akerson said.
On a personal note, he said, promoting Ms. Barra to the top job was an emotional moment for him. “It was almost like watching your daughter graduate from college,” he said.
Ms. Barra is known inside G.M. as a consensus builder who calls her staff together on a moment’s notice to brainstorm on pressing issues. An early riser who is often in her office by 6 a.m., Ms. Barra has a soft-spoken manner that belies her intensity on the job. “Problems don’t solve themselves,” she is fond of saying, according to a person who works closely with her but was not authorized to comment publicly. “They don’t go away – they just get bigger.”
She grew up in a G.M. family. Her father was a die-maker for the company for 39 years, and she is deeply attached to cars, routinely test-driving new models at G.M.'s proving grounds in the Detroit suburb of Milford. She and her husband, Tony, a management consultant, have owned a number of Chevrolet Camaro muscle cars over the years. Currently, Ms. Barra drives a Cadillac CTS sedan – one of several important new models developed during her tenure as head of global product development.
One of her initiatives has been to assign engineers to work in dealerships to learn more about what customers want and need in their cars and trucks. And Ms. Barra has a competitive streak, particularly when it comes to beating rival automakers. “We’re not developing models to participate in a segment,” she told members of her team at a recent meeting. “We’re developing models to win in a segment.”
The decision to split the chief executive and chairman roles was part of an overall effort to balance and spread responsibilities among senior leaders of the company, Mr. Akerson said.
“We’ve tried to establish a culture here as a team rather than personalities,” he said.
The company also said that its chief financial officer, Dan Ammann, would become president of General Motors and assume responsibility for regional operations and global brand organizations.
Mr. Ammann, 41, will retain the C.F.O. job until a successor is named.
Other changes include the move of Mark Reuss, who had been chief of G.M.'s North American operations, to Ms. Barra’s job as head of product development. Mr. Reuss had also been considered a candidate for the chief executive position.
G.M. also announced that Stephen J. Girsky, who is a vice chairman of the company, would move to a senior advisory role until leaving the company in April. He will remain on the General Motors board.
Keep up the great work and make GM the best ever. 
12-10-2013, 10:14 PM
#20
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2020 C8 of the Year Finalist - Unmodified
Is she single? 
Seriously, this is great news. We wish her well.
First order of business: do something about FAY!
Seriously, this is great news. We wish her well.
First order of business: do something about FAY!