She# the Brand

 ENGLISH CIA-3 ASSIGNMENT  

NAME                   : Sayyeda Iqra Anjum 

COMBINATION   : MCZ 

HALL TICKET NO : 120420457021 

  

SHE THE BRAND – MARY BARRA  

                                                                       

Mary Barra is an American businesswoman who was born and brought up in 

Waterford, Michigan. Currently, she serves as the chairman and CEO of General 

Motors Company. Likewise, she is the first female CEO of a ‘Big Three’ automaker. She was named to succeed Dan Akerson as a chief executive officer by GM. 

She was born on 24 December 1961, in Waterford, Michigan, United States. She celebrates her birthday on 24th Dec every year and her birth sign is Capricorn. 

 

Barra went to the General Motors Institute (now Kettering University). From here, she graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering in 1985. Afterward, she was inducted into the engineering honor society Tau Beta Pi. 

Later, Mary joined Stanford Graduate School of Business on a GM fellowship. As a result, she obtained her Masters’ in Business Administration degree in 1990. 

She then enrolled at the University of Michigan where she graduated with an honorary degree in 2014. 

Barra is a vastly recognized businesswoman who is the first female CEO of a major global automaker. Currently, she serves as the chairman and CEO of General Motors Company. 

In 1980, Mary started working for General Motors at the age of 18 as a co-op student and subsequently held a variety of engineering and administrative positions, including managing the Detroit/Hamtramck Assembly plant. 

 She became Vice President of Global Manufacturing Engineering in February 

2008 and in July 2009 she advanced to the position of Vice President of Global Human Resources, which she held until February 2011, when she was named Executive Vice President of Global Product Development. 

Her position as Executive Vice President of Global Product Development included responsibilities for a design where she worked to reduce the number of automobile platforms in GM. Later in  August 2013, Mary’s Vice President’s responsibility was extended to include Global Purchasing and Supply Chain. 

In January 2014, she took over as chief executive of General Motors and became the first-ever female to head an automobile manufacturer.  

84 safety recalls involving over 30 million cars were issued by General motors during Mary’s first year as CEO. Mary was called before the Senate to 

testify about the recalls and deaths attributed to the faulty ignition switch. She and General Motors also came under suspicion of paying for awards to burnish the CEO and corporation’s image during that time. Those recalls led to the creation of new policies encouraging workers to report problems they encounter, thereby altering the company culture. 

Over the course of her time as CEO, Mary has pushed General Motors as a company transitioning into the tech space pushing forward in the automated 

driverless car space with major acquisitions including Strobe, a startup focused 

on driverless technology. In 2017, Mary pushed the company to develop the Chevy Bolt EV, beating rival Tesla in developing the first electric car priced under $40K with a range of 200 miles. 

Mary was in 2017, the highest-paid Detroit Three executive, with a total remuneration of $21.96 million. In November 2018 she announced the closure 

of five North American plants and plans to lay off 14,000 workers. That decision was criticized by President Trump who threatened to remove the company’s government subsidies in response. 

 

 

In 2013, Barra was listed as 35th on the Forbes Most Powerful Women list and in 2018, she rose to the second rank as the most powerful. 

Later in May 2014, she delivered the commencement address for the University of 

Michigan’s Ann Arbor campus at Michigan Stadium. At the University of Michigan, Barra received an honorary degree and in 2018, she received an honorary Doctorate from Duke University. 

In the Fortune’s Most Powerful Women list in 2015, Barra was the first. She had ranked second the year before. 

She featured on the cover of Time’s “100 Most Influential People in the World” in April 2014. 

Barra was awarded the Yale Chief Executive Leadership Institute’s Legend in 

Leadership Award in 2018. She also achieved the first place in the autos and auto parts sector, in the Institutional Investor’s yearly survey of top executives, the 2019 All-America Executive Team. 

 

MARY BARRA (MARY TERESA BARRA), IS THE FIRST FEMALE CEO OF A MAJOR GLOBAL AUTOMAKER.