Get To Know GM's New CEO Mary Barra With These 10 Quick Facts

She's been in the business for more than 30 years.

It's not official just yet, but come Jan 15, 51-year-old Mary Barra will be not just General Motors' first female CEO, but also the first female CEO of a major U.S. automaker. She will be replacing Dan Akerson, who has decided to retire from the business completely at age 65. The announcement comes somewhat expected, as Akerson has mentioned before that a major car company would eventually be run by a woman in the near future. Barra has been under the GM umbrellas for a large majority of her life, however, she has only been popping up into the spotlight for the past five years. For those who don't know anything about the industries most powerful female, Get To Know GM's New CEO Mary Barra With These 10 Quick Facts

 

She is the 23rd female CEO of a Fortune 500 company and now is the leading lady in the list of women in charge of America's largest companies. (via)

Her dad was a die maker for GM's Pontiac division for four decades. (via)

The first car that wowed her was a red late-’60s Chevrolet Camaro convertible that her cousin owned when she was 10. (via)

She put down a deposit on a Firebird, then changed her mind and purchased a Chevrolet Chevette before college, because she was trying to save money. (via)


Her first full-time gig after graduating with an electrical engineering degree was as an engineer at a Pontiac Fiero plant. (via)


On average, she was in Germany for a week out of every month last year trying to rebuild a crumbled Opel. (via


As of October 2011, she took a test vehicle out on the track at least once a week. (via


She has an MBA from Stanford. (via)

She started working for GM when she was 18 and grew up in Waterford, Michigan, just outside of Detroit. (via)

Before her promotion, as the executive vice president, Global Product Development, Purchasing and Supply Chain, she had 39,000 people reporting to her. (via)

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