Mary Teresa Barra (née Makela; born December 24, 1961) is an American businesswoman who has been the chair and
chief executive officer
A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especial ...
(CEO) of
General Motors since January 15, 2014. She is the first female CEO of a
'Big Three' automaker.
In December 2013, GM named her to succeed
Daniel Akerson as CEO.
Prior to being named CEO, Barra was executive vice president of global product development, purchasing, and supply chain.
Early life
Barra was born in
Royal Oak, Michigan
Royal Oak is a city in Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. An inner-ring suburb of Detroit, Royal Oak is about north of Detroit's city limits. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 57,236.
Royal Oak is located along t ...
to parents of
Finnish
Finnish may refer to:
* Something or someone from, or related to Finland
* Culture of Finland
* Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland
* Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people
* Finnish cuisine
See also ...
descent.
Her grandfather, Viktor Mäkelä, moved to the US and married Maria Luoma, a Finnish immigrant from
Teuva
Teuva ( sv, Östermark) is a municipality of Finland.
It is located in the South Ostrobothnia region. The population of Teuva is () and the municipality covers an area of of which is inland water (). The population density is .
The municipali ...
. They lived in
Mountain Iron, Minnesota and had three children, including a son named Reino, called Ray. Barra's father, Ray, married a second-generation Finnish American named Eva Pyykkönen, and Mary was born in 1961.
Education
Barra graduated from the General Motors Institute (now
Kettering University) in 1985, where she obtained a
Bachelor of Science
A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years.
The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University o ...
in
Electrical Engineering. Barra was inducted into the engineering honor society
Tau Beta Pi (MI Zeta class of 1985) and the honor society
IEEE-Eta Kappa Nu (Theta Epsilon chapter 1983) while at Kettering University. She then attended
Stanford Graduate School of Business on a GM fellowship, receiving a
Master of Business Administration
A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accoun ...
degree in 1990.
[
]
Career
General Motors
Barra started working for General Motors in 1980 as a co-op student, when she was 18 years old.[ Her job was checking fender panels and inspecting hoods, and she used this job to pay for her college tuition. She subsequently held a variety of engineering and administrative positions, including managing the ]Detroit/Hamtramck Assembly
Detroit/Hamtramck Assembly, also called Factory Zero, is a General Motors automobile assembly plant straddling the border between Detroit and Hamtramck, Michigan. It is located about three miles (five km) from GM's corporate headquarters. Wh ...
plant.
In February 2008, she became vice president of Global Manufacturing Engineering. In July 2009, she advanced to the position of vice president of global human resources, which she held until February 2011, when she was named executive vice president of Global Product Development.[ The latter position included responsibilities for design; she has worked to reduce the number of ]automobile platforms
A car platform is a shared set of common design, engineering, and production efforts, as well as major components, over a number of outwardly distinct models and even types of cars, often from different, but somewhat related, marques. It is prac ...
in GM. In August 2013, her vice president responsibility was extended to include Global Purchasing and Supply Chain.
When Barra took over as chief executive of General Motors in January 2014, she became the first female head of an automobile manufacturer.
During her first year as CEO, General Motors issued 84 safety recall
A product recall is a request from a manufacturer to return a product after the discovery of safety issues or product defects that might endanger the consumer or put the maker/seller at risk of legal action.
The recall is an effort to limit ruin ...
s involving over 30 million cars. Barra was called before the Senate to testify about the recalls and deaths attributed to the faulty ignition switch. Barra and General Motors also came under suspicion of paying for awards to burnish the CEO and corporation's image during that time. The recalls led to the creation of new policies encouraging workers to report problems they encounter in an attempt to change company culture.
As CEO, Barra made GM move into driverless and electric-powered cars through acquisitions including Strobe, a startup in driverless technology. In 2017 GM began to sell the Chevy Bolt EV, beating rival Tesla to the first electric car priced under $40,000 with a range of 200 miles.
In 2017, Barra was the highest paid Detroit Three
In the automotive industry, the term Big Three is used for a country's three largest motor vehicle manufacturers, especially indicating companies that sell under multiple brand names.
The term originated in the United States, where General Moto ...
executive, with a total remuneration of $21.96 million. In November 2018, Barra announced the closure of five North American plants and 14,000 worker lay offs. Her decision was criticized by President Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...
, who threatened to remove the company's government subsidies in response.
In a June 2022 question about reinstating dividends at GM, Barra said the company has a "clear priority" to "accelerate our EV plans" and to solely offer EVs by 2035.
Boards and councils
Barra was a member of the General Dynamics board of directors. She serves on the board of directors of the Detroit Economic Club and Detroit Country Day School. She is a member of the Stanford University Board of Trustees, the Stanford Graduate School of Business Advisory Council, and the Duke University Board of Trustees.
In August 2017, she was elected to the board of Disney
The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...
. She was the 12th person elected to this board, and the fourth woman.
Awards and honors
Barra was listed as 35th on ''Forbes'' Most Powerful Women list in 2013, rising in rank to fourth most powerful in 2018.
In May 2014, she delivered the commencement address for University of Michigan
, mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth"
, former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821)
, budget = $10.3 billion (2021)
, endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
's Ann Arbor campus at Michigan Stadium
Michigan Stadium, nicknamed "The Big House," is the football stadium for the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan. It is the largest stadium in the United States and the Western Hemisphere, the third largest stadium in the world, and the ...
, and received an honorary degree. In 2018, she received an honorary doctorate from Duke University and in 2022 she delivered as the school's commencement address.
Barra was ranked first in Fortune's Most Powerful Women list in 2015, up from second the year before.
She remained in the number one spot in Fortune's Most Powerful Women of 2017 and Number 5 on Forbes
''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...
World's 100 Most Powerful Women List in the same year.
In April 2014, Barra was featured on the cover of Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...
's "100 Most Influential People in the World."
In December 2016, Barra joined a business forum assembled by then President-Elect Donald Trump to provide strategic and policy advice on economic issues. However, she left the forum in 2017, following Trump's response to the Charlottesville protests.
Barra was elected to the National Academy of Engineering
The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Engineering is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of ...
in February 2018. In September 2018, Barra was awarded the Yale Chief Executive Leadership Institute's Legend in Leadership Award.
In '' Institutional Investor''s yearly survey of top executives, the 2019 All-America Executive Team, Barra achieved the first place in the autos and auto parts sector.
Barra was selected for the inaugural 2021 Forbes 50 Over 50; made up of entrepreneurs, leaders, scientists and creators who are over the age of 50. In 2021, she was included in the ''Time'' 100, ''Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...
''s annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world.
Personal life
Barra is married to consultant Tony Barra, whom she met while studying at Kettering University, and has two children and two dogs. They live in Northville, a suburb of Detroit. She also owns an apartment in Downtown Detroit.
She has named the Chevrolet Camaro
The Chevrolet Camaro is a mid-size American automobile manufactured by Chevrolet, classified as a pony car. It first went on sale on September 29, 1966, for the 1967 model year and was designed to compete with the Ford Mustang. The Camaro ...
and the Pontiac Firebird
The Pontiac Firebird is an American automobile that was built and produced by Pontiac from the 1967 to 2002 model years. Designed as a pony car to compete with the Ford Mustang, it was introduced on February 23, 1967, five months after GM's ...
as her favorite cars. Barra can speak a little Finnish.
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Barra, Mary
1961 births
Living people
21st-century American businesspeople
21st-century American businesswomen
American chief executives in the automobile industry
American chief executives of Fortune 500 companies
American chief executives of manufacturing companies
American corporate directors
American people of Finnish descent
American women chief executives
Automotive businesspeople
Businesspeople from Michigan
General Motors executives
Kettering University alumni
People from Royal Oak, Michigan
Stanford Graduate School of Business alumni
Stanford University trustees
Women corporate directors