General Motors Company
Leadership History
7 leaders · 1923 to present
Mary Barra is the CEO of General Motors, in the role since 2014. The first chief executive was Alfred P. Sloan, from 1923.
| Name | Role | From | To | Years in role |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sterling Anderson | Executive Vice President and Chief Product Officer | 2025 | Present | 1 |
| Paul Jacobson | Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer | 2020 | Present | 6 |
| Mark Reuss | President | 2020 | Present | 6 |
| Mary Barra | Chair and Chief Executive Officer | 2014 | Present | 12 |
| Rick Wagoner | Former Chairman and CEO | 2000 | 2009 | 9 |
| Roger Smith | Chief Executive Officer | 1981 | 1990 | 9 |
| Alfred P. Sloan | Former President, CEO, and Chairman | 1923 | 1956 | 33 |
General Motors (NYSE: GM) is the largest U.S. automaker by sales, with 2.85 million U.S. deliveries and about a 17% market share in 2025. Based in Detroit, it sells vehicles under Chevrolet, GMC, Cadillac, and Buick, and runs GM Financial for auto loans and leases. Its identity today is tied to profitable pickups such as the Silverado and Sierra and large SUVs such as the Escalade, which fund a slower-than-planned move into EVs, software, and driver assistance. The company is headquartered in Detroit, Michigan.
Executive Vice President and Chief Product Officer
2025 – Present
1 year (current)
Aurora Innovation co-founder hired in May 2025 to run the end-to-end product lifecycle for gas and electric vehicles, including software and autonomy.
Leads GM's in-house autonomous-driving effort after the end of Cruise robotaxi funding.
Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
2020 – Present
6 years (current)
Joined GM as CFO in December 2020 from Delta Air Lines; leads capital allocation, share repurchases, and EV cost restructuring.
Has emphasized cash generation, inventory and incentive discipline, and returning North America margins to the 8-10% range.
President
2020 – Present
6 years (current)
Oversees GM's global vehicle programs, brands, and operations; chief product officer Sterling Anderson reports to him.
Longtime GM product and engineering executive who previously led global product development.
Chair and Chief Executive Officer
2014 – Present
12 years (current)
Barra became CEO in January 2014, just as the ignition-switch recall crisis broke, and pushed cultural changes to surface safety issues faster. She sold Opel/Vauxhall to PSA Group in 2017, exited markets such as India, committed GM to an EV future built on the Ultium platform, and later scaled back EV capacity in 2025 as U.S. demand weakened. In December 2024 she ended funding for the Cruise robotaxi business.
Under Barra, GM has focused on profitability over global volume, regained the top U.S. sales spot, and returned large amounts of cash to shareholders through buybacks. Her EV strategy has been costly, including about $7.6 billion of EV charges in 2025, but the core truck and SUV business has kept GM consistently profitable on an adjusted basis.
Former Chairman and CEO
2000 – 2009
9 years
Taking control of GM at the dawn of the new millennium, Rick Wagoner attempted to modernize the sprawling, inefficient corporation by heavily investing in emerging global markets, particularly China. However, he also doubled down on the company's dangerous reliance on high-margin, gas-guzzling SUVs and pickup trucks, leaving the company dangerously exposed when oil prices spiked. As the 2008 financial crisis destroyed global credit markets and vehicle sales plummeted, the company's legacy pension and healthcare obligations triggered a fatal liquidity crisis.
Wagoner's tenure ended in historic disaster, culminating in the 2009 government-managed bankruptcy and his forced resignation by the Obama administration. While he made some positive long-term investments in international markets, his failure to adequately address the company's heavy structural costs, combined with a disastrous over-reliance on large trucks, ultimately proved fatal to the old General Motors corporation.
Chief Executive Officer
1981 – 1990
9 years
Roger Smith served as chief executive of General Motors Company from 1981 to 1990.
Former President, CEO, and Chairman
1923 – 1956
33 years
As the foundational architect of the modern corporation, Alfred P. Sloan introduced the influential concept of 'decentralized operations with coordinated control.' Recognizing that Ford's single-model strategy (the Model T) was ultimately unsustainable, Sloan organized GM's chaotic portfolio of acquired brands into a coherent hierarchy of price and prestige, deliberately designing a product ladder that encouraged consumers to 'trade up' from Chevrolet to Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Buick, and eventually Cadillac. He also instituted the concept of the 'annual model change,' introducing planned obsolescence to drive continuous consumer demand.
Sloan is arguably the most influential corporate executive of the twentieth century. His organizational innovations not only allowed GM to surpass Ford and dominate the global automotive industry for over seventy years, but they also established the fundamental principles of modern management theory, marketing, and corporate finance that are still widely utilized by large multinational corporations today.
GM's main challenges in 2025-2026 are EV economics, trade policy, and competition. Weaker U.S. EV demand after the federal $7,500 EV tax credit expired on September 30, 2025 led GM to cut EV capacity and book roughly $7.6 billion of EV-related charges in 2025. Tariffs on imported vehicles and parts are a multibillion-dollar cost; in April 2026 GM guided to $2.5-3.5 billion of gross tariff costs for the year. Its China joint ventures have lost share to domestic brands such as BYD, and Chinese EV makers are expanding in markets where GM sells. Heavy reliance on trucks and SUVs also leaves earnings exposed to fuel prices, interest rates, and consumer affordability, with average U.S. transaction prices around $52,000 in mid-2026.
Key modern CEOs of General Motors include Alfred P. Sloan Jr. (architect of GM's brand ladder), Roger Smith (1980s automation and Saturn founder), Jack Smith (1990s restructuring), Rick Wagoner (pre-bankruptcy era), Fritz Henderson, Ed Whitacre, Dan Akerson (who led the post-bailout IPO), and Mary Barra (2014-present).
Mary Barra transformed GM by handling the ignition switch recall crisis with radical transparency, exiting unprofitable international markets, pivoting the company's long-term capital toward zero-emissions electric architectures (Ultium), championing autonomous mobility (Cruise acquisition), and achieving record profitability in North American truck operations.
Alfred P. Sloan Jr., who served as GM's president and chairman from 1923 to 1956, created the decentralized corporate organizational structure with coordinated financial control, pioneering the concept of market segmentation with 'a car for every purse and purpose' from Chevrolet to Cadillac.
Appointed following the 2009 restructuring, Ed Whitacre and Dan Akerson streamlined management hierarchies, cut fixed structural costs, revitalized core product development pipelines, and successfully guided GM through its landmark November 2010 initial public offering (IPO).
Barra dismantled bureaucratic silos, instituted accountability-focused cultural behaviors, elevated women and software engineers into top leadership tiers, and instituted the 'One GM' operational framework emphasizing customer safety, speed of innovation, and rigorous capital discipline.
GM's executive compensation framework ties significant portions of performance-based stock awards to adjusted automotive EBIT margins, automotive free cash flow generation, relative total shareholder return (TSR), EV volume penetration targets, and software revenue milestones.
Rick Wagoner (CEO from 2000 to 2009) formed global alliances, launched key truck platforms, and negotiated legacy healthcare VEBA agreements with the UAW, but heavy legacy debt burdens, skyrocketing retiree pension obligations, and the 2008 global financial crisis forced GM into government-assisted restructuring.
Roger Smith focused on large capital automation across assembly plants, formed the NUMMI joint venture with Toyota, founded the Saturn brand to compete with Japanese imports, and executed major technology acquisitions including Hughes Aircraft and Electronic Data Systems (EDS).
Mary Barra serves as CEO. An absolute legend in the auto industry, she took over in 2014. She famously made incredibly ruthless, highly praised decisions to completely abandon GM's unprofitable European division (Opel/Vauxhall) and aggressively redirect massive billions of dollars into autonomous driving and EVs.
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