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GM's Barra: First female CEO at major automaker

James R. Healey
USA TODAY
  • Dan Akerson retiring after three profitable years
  • He accelerated transition after wife diagnosed with cancer
  • Barra moves from v.p. of GM global product development
Mary Barra, General Motors’ senior vice president for product development, will become the first female chief executive of a major automaker.

General Motors global product chief Mary Barra has been named the new CEO.

Already one of the world's most powerful businesswomen, she is the first woman CEO of a major automaker and one of the few ever to head a major industrial corporation.

Barra, 51, takes over Jan. 15 from Dan Akerson, who has been CEO and chairman of the GM board since Sept. 1, 2010. Akerson, 65, said he accelerated his planned retirement by several months, after his wife recently was diagnosed with an advanced stage of cancer.

GM also announced several other executive changes along with the new CEO.

"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," Barra said in a statement. "I'm honored to lead the best team in the business and to keep our momentum at full speed."

Barra has been at GM for her whole career and has been most recently executive vice president of GM's global product development, purchasing and supply chain.

Akerson said he "had a quiet moment with her and told her" she was the unanimous choice of the board.

"What a tremendous culmination of Mary Barra's career at GM. As someone who started with the company as an intern in 1980, she has truly climbed the corporate ladder through dedication and hard work," said Karl Brauer, senior analyst at Kelley Blue Book.

Barra was picked for her "breadth and depth of experience, her managerial skills, her interpersonal skills...her understanding of our internal machinations," Akerson said in a conference call with reporters.

"Mary was not picked because of her gender or political correctness," he said. "Mary's one of the most gifted executive I've met in my career."

"We see the announcement as a positive," analyst Brian Johnson at Barclays said in a note to clients. "We believe the focus on effective product development and engineering processes will become more prevalent within GM with Barra's promotion."

Analyst Joe Spak at RBC Capital Markets said in a note to clients: "In the times we have met Ms. Barra, we came away impressed and believe she has a strong vision for GM...Her recent focus has been on streamlining GM and focusing on cost saving."

While not exactly matching Ford Motor CEO Alan Mulally's "One Ford," Barra nevertheless is working to slice in half then number of basic global platforms, or architectures, that GM uses to make its cars, as well as cutting the number of engines. Spak said, "Besides improved product, wringing out inefficiencies should help GM close the (profit) margin gap with Ford."

Barra was on of four candidates being considered for the CEO job.

The others, and their new jobs:

• Dan Ammann, 41, CFO. He'll become GM president, in charge of managing the company's regional operations around the world. The global Chevrolet and Cadillac brand organizations and GM Financial will also report to Ammann.

Ammann joined GM in 2010. His first job was to manage GM's IPO.

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.

"We have a significant opportunity to further integrate and optimize our operations to deliver even better results," said Ammann. "While we have made good progress, we still have much work ahead of us to realize GM's full potential."

• Mark Reuss, 50, executive vice president and president, North America., will replace Barra as global product development, purchasing and supply chief.

Reuss is a hands-on product manager who said in an interview at the Los Angeles auto show last month that he wasn't sure he wanted the CEO post. "I love having a direct impact on what's in the showroom. Do I want to give that up?"

Akerson said Reuss has "a passion for the product. He is one of the best in the industry."

Reuss insisted, for instance, that Cadillac's popular ATS small sedan use proprietary chassis and other hardware that could be tuned for the handling and driving feel to rival the best German sedans.

Adapting a chassis that GM already had in production would have been much quicker and cheaper, but he insisted that would compromise the car.

He also has overseen development of the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra full-size pickups, the Chevy Corvette and Impala.

He called his new job "The best seat to have," and said, "We're going to keep the pedal down on GM's product resurgence."

Alan Batey, currently senior vice president, Global Chevrolet and U.S. Sales and Marketing, will replace Reuss as North America chief.

• Steve Girsky, 51, vice chairman in charge of corporate strategy, business development and global product planning, and currently overseeing GM's attempt to reorganize its operations in Europe.

He moves to a senior advisor role until leaving the company in April 2014. He will remain on the GM board after leaving the company.

Girsky came to GM from Wall Street, where his investment advice wasn't always complimentary toward GM.

He has been leading GM's turnaround plan in Europe. He also worked with GM's OnStar unit to keep it competitive at a time of rapid changes in vehicle connectivity, and he helped create GM Ventures to speed the commercialization of new technologies in GM vehicles.

Akerson has been frustrated that GM seems to invent many things, and use only a few of them.

"I share Dan's pride for what the company has accomplished and his sense of optimism for a bright future," said Girsky. "This team is united in its commitment to building on the foundation that we have established."

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