Mary Barra
Chair and CEO, General Motors.
EditorialAn editorial profile written by Ceolumen from public sources. Mary Barra is not a Ceolumen member and has not endorsed Ceolumen. Disclosures
Profile
Mary Barra has been chief executive of General Motors since 15 January 2014 and is also chair of its board. She was the first woman to lead one of the three largest American carmakers.
Her whole career has been at GM. She started there in 1980, at 18, as a co-op student checking fender panels and inspecting hoods to pay for college. She earned a degree in electrical engineering from the General Motors Institute, now Kettering University, in 1985, and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business in 1990 on a GM fellowship.
She went on to hold engineering and administrative posts, including running the Detroit/Hamtramck assembly plant, and later led global manufacturing engineering, global human resources and then global product development, purchasing and supply chain, the role she held before she became chief executive.
Sources
- Mary Barra Wikipedia
- Mary Barra and Condoleezza Rice on the future of Detroit and American innovation General Motors
- Most Powerful Women 2026: Mary Barra Fortune
Facts and role checked against these sources on 12 November 2026. Roles change; if something here is out of date, write to support@stacklumen.com.
Photo
An official portrait of Mary Barra in a cream jacket, with flags behind her, 2022. Photograph by Benjamin Applebaum, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, via Wikimedia Commons, in the public domain.