GM Names Its First Female CEO

VOA News
10 December 2013 (11:41AM)

The woman both Forbes and Fortune magazines named as the most powerful in business, Mary Barra, will become the first female Chief Executive Officer of U.S. automaker General Motors.

Barra was elected by the company board to succeed Dan Akerson, who will step down January 15.

In her current position as Executive Vice President of Global product development, she developed a reputation of a hard driving leader who made the company achieve higher standards of quality, following the drop in consumer confidence that led to the U.S. automotive industry crisis in 2008.

Bara, who holds a degree in engineering, comes from a family long connected with auto industry, as her father worked for General Motors for almost 40 years.