{"id":61252,"date":"2026-10-29T10:23:05","date_gmt":"2026-10-29T07:23:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thesauditimes.net\/en\/?p=61252"},"modified":"2026-10-29T10:23:05","modified_gmt":"2026-10-29T07:23:05","slug":"mary-barra","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesauditimes.net\/en\/mary-barra\/","title":{"rendered":"Mary Barra, General Motors Chair and CEO Who Rose From Co-op Student to the Top"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mary Barra is the chair and chief executive officer of General Motors<\/a>, the Detroit carmaker behind the Chevrolet, GMC, Cadillac and Buick brands. She has been chief executive since January 2014 and has chaired the board since January 2016.<\/p>\n

Her whole working life has been spent at GM, which she joined as a student in 1980. In 2025 the company reported revenue of $185.0 billion and its highest full-year market share in the United States in a decade.<\/p>\n

Education<\/h3>\n

Barra studied at the General Motors Institute, now Kettering University, in a co-operative programme that mixed classes with work at the company. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering in 1985.<\/p>\n

She went on to earn an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business in 1990.<\/p>\n

Career<\/h3>\n

Barra began her career at GM in 1980 as a co-op student at the Pontiac Motor Division, while she was studying at the General Motors Institute.<\/p>\n

After graduating she moved through a series of engineering and staff posts. One of her senior operating jobs was plant manager of the Detroit Hamtramck Assembly plant.<\/p>\n

In 2008 she became vice president of global manufacturing engineering. A year later, in 2009, she switched to the people side of the business as vice president of global human resources, a post she held until 2011.<\/p>\n

In February 2011 she was named senior vice president of global product development. In that role she and her teams were responsible for the design, engineering and quality of GM vehicle launches around the world.<\/p>\n

Her remit widened in August 2013, when she became executive vice president of global product development, purchasing and supply chain. She held that post until she took over as chief executive in January 2014.<\/p>\n

The board elected her its chair in January 2016, combining the two top roles. She also chairs the board’s executive committee.<\/p>\n

As chief executive she has set out a long-term vision of a world with zero crashes, zero emissions and zero congestion. GM links that goal to its work on connected services, electric drive and driver assistance, while its full-size trucks and sport utility vehicles remain the main source of its sales and profit, according to its annual report.<\/p>\n

Current Roles<\/h3>\n