The car guys will have to ride in the back because, for the first time in the company's of history, a woman will drive General Motors.
Mary Barra will replace Daniel Akerson as GM's top leader. Akerson will retire January 15.
Detroit News: Barra, 51, has worked at GM for 33 years. She has worked her way up the corporate ladder, getting her start in 1980 as an engineer in a Pontiac factory. She also has been vice president of global human resources, plant manager at GM Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly, vice president of global manufacturing engineering and executive director of competitive operations engineering. In 2011, Barra was named to a post to oversee design, engineering, program management and quality of GM vehicles globally. She took on GM’s global purchasing and supply chain responsibilities on Aug. 1 of this year.
Barra, the News notes, was responsible for GM eliminating the company's "rigid and lengthy" dress code. A small thing, perhaps, but given long-held image of GM as the ultimate stodgy corporation, it is a sign that Barra aims to continue running a post-bankruptcy GM differently than the pre-bankruptcy bureaucratic leviathan.
