General Motors announced that Dan Akerson will step down as chairman and CEO on Jan. 15, 2014. Mary Barra, 51, executive vice president, Global Product Development, Purchasing and Supply Chain, was elected the next CEO of the company. Barra will also join the GM Board.
Barra is the first female CEO for GM and joins a handful of executives, including DuPont CEO Ellen Kullman in heading a Fortune 100 company.
The Board also named Theodore (Tim) Solso to succeed Akerson as Chairman. Solso, 66, is the former chairman and CEO of Cummins, Inc., and has been a member of the GM Board since June 2012.
With 33 years of experience at GM, Barra has risen through a series of manufacturing, engineering, and senior staff positions. She is a leader in the company’s ongoing turnaround, revitalizing GM’s product development process.
“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,” said Barra. “I’m honored to lead the best team in the business and to keep our momentum at full speed.”
GM operated an assembly plant near Newport for nearly half a century before closing the site as it went into bankruptcy proceedings.
The U.S. Government is selling its last GM shares that came out of a federal bailout of the company. The bailout cost taxpayers about $10 billion, although the revival of GM and Chrysler has added to tax rolls since that time.
Ford was not part of the bailout.
