Mary Barra is the smart, beautiful CEO of the famous Fortune 500 company General Motors in the USA. She has held this position since 2014, making her the first woman to head an automotive manufacturing company worldwide.
Barra’s story at General Motors began at a rather incredible age, perhaps even before she attended college; this has contributed to her success story and also provided her with the skills and experience to run such a large company before her male colleagues.
Mary Barra’s Biography
Barra was born on Christmas Eve in 1961 as the daughter of Ray and Eva Makela in Royal Oak, Michigan. Her parents are of Finnish descent. Her ancestors are said to come from Kankaanpää in the province of Satakunta in Köyliö. She is not an only child, as she has a brother named Paul Makela. It is interesting that her father worked for the Pontiac car factory in Detroit for four decades. This is obviously how Mary developed her love for the automobile.
She attended schools in Waterford, Waterford, Michigan. After graduating from Waterford Mott High School, she took a job in the automotive industry to pay for college tuition. Mary Barra later earned a BSc in Electrical Engineering from Kettering University (formerly General Motors Institute). She also earned a master’s degree in business administration from the Stanford Graduate School of Business in 1990.
In 2014, she received an honorary doctorate from the University of Michigan after giving the inaugural address at the beginning of spring for her campus in Ann Arbor at the Michigan Stadium.
Barra began her career at General Motors in 1980 as a co-op student, and her responsibilities included managing the assembly plant in Detroit/Hamtramck. Through hard work and determination, her rise began. In 2008, she was named Vice President of Global Manufacturing Engineering and the following year, Vice President of Global Human Resources.
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On January 4, 2014, Mary was elected Chairman of the Board of General Motors. She currently serves as CEO of General Motors since January 15, 2016.
She is a globetrotter who wants to see the change the world deserves. While working in these offices, Mary Barra and her team were both responsible for and keen to ensure that General Motors had the right design, technology, and global launch. She is an astute and intrepid leader who, through her leadership skills, brought good news to General Motors when she resumed her role as CEO of General Motors.
In fact, General Motors has slightly beaten its rival Ford with a 3.6 percent profit before interest and taxes. In 2017, their average vehicle sales price reached a record high of $36,000.
This resilient General Motors’ profit could only be possible with Mary Barra’s unwavering support and leadership. She currently serves on the board of directors of the Walt Disney Group, the board of trustees of Stanford University, and the Detroit Economic Club.
She is also a member of the Business Council and a member of the At-Large Board of the Business Roundtable, where she also serves on the Social Committee. In 2014, Times Magazine named her one of the “100 most influential people in the world. Two years later (2016), she was appointed to a Business Forum committee put together by Donald Trump to provide strategic and policy advice on economic issues, but she left the committee the following year due to Trump’s reaction to the protests in Charlottesville.
In 2019, Mary Barra was the first in the automotive and auto parts industry to appear in Institutional Investor’s annual survey of top executives. Isn’t Mary Barra just an everyday woman?
Who Is Mary Barra’s Husband? – Anthony Barra
Mary Barra is married to Anthony Barra, an engineering consultant whom she met while studying at the University of Kettering. Both are involved in some humanitarian work. In 2014, both served as chairmen of the International Wine Auction in Detroit. Through the College for Creative Studies, they also raised $2.4 million in art programs and scholarships.
They are proud parents of two children, Nicholas, and Rachel Barra. The couple lives in Northville (a suburb of Detroit).
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Salary And Net Worth
In February 2019 it was announced that the net worth of the beautiful, smart blond CEO had reached $64 million.
It is no surprise though, as the smart lady has made a name for herself in the automotive industry through hard work and determination. She currently owns over 39,095 shares of General Motors valued at $42,063,158, in addition to the $21,958,000 she earns as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of General Motors.
