Indian-American Named CFO Of US General Motors

An Indian-American woman, Dhivya Suryadevara, has been named the Chief Finance Officer of the US’ largest automaker, General Motors.

Chennai-born, Suryadevara has been serving as the company’s vice-president of corporate finance for the last 11 months. She will take charge as the company's CFO on September 1, succeeding Chuck Stevens, the company said in a statement on June 12.

Suryadevara will report to Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mary Barra.

Barra has been holding the position of the head of the automaker since 2014. No other global automaker has female in any respective management positions. Barra and Suryadevara are the first women in their respective positions in the auto industry.

"Dhivya's experience and leadership in several key roles throughout our financial operations position her well to build on the strong business results we've delivered over the last several years," Mary Barra, GM's chief executive officer, said in a statement

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With this move, GM will now join a very short list of S&P 500 companies which have women holding positions as CEO and CFO. Major names include companies like Hershey Co. And American Water Works Co., having a woman holding these positions.

The 39-year-old Suryadevara has played a significant role as vice-president. She played a key role in GM divesting its German affiliate Opel, acquiring self-driving car unit Cruise Automation, investing in ride-hailing startup Lyft Inc. and arranging a recent investment by SoftBank Vision Fund. She was also involved in some significant deals GM has made.

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An accomplished chartered financial analyst and accountant, she shifted to the US at the age of 22 to pursue her MBA from Harvard University. She also worked at UBS and PricewaterhouseCoopers before joining General Motors.

Suryadevara also served as CEO and Chief Investment Officer for GM Asset Management from 2013 to 2017.

According to Anna Beninger, Catalyst's senior director of research, "Given that the rate of change for women into the C-suite and into the CEO level has been so slow, any time we see one, it is certainly progress. On the flip side, it is one. We have to keep in mind that doesn't mean a trend."

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