New head of GM product development - a woman.

[Chevrolaine]

Discuss. Good, bad, Who Cares,??? I was hoping it was Mary, but no. At least her favorite car is the Camaro and not the Volt!
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-01-20/gm-promotes-first-female-head-of-vehicle-development.html

[SLO_Z28]

The fact that shes a woman is a total non issue, and it surprises me that you even brought it up. Whether shes qualified or not is another question entirely. Just seems to me that there would be better qualified people out there...car people.

[absintheisfun]

The fact that shes a woman is a total non issue, and it surprises me that you even brought it up.

My thoughts as well.

My biggest concern is that she comes from an HR background, and not a car background and will be in charge of what cars make it and what cars don't. I guess that GM is doing what all companies do when they are in trouble--get leadership from anywhere but the norm. A fresh set of eyes and mind from a background that has very little to do with what they are being put in charge of will either enpower and make overwhelmingly better, or destroy a fragile company.

[wmhjr]

If you read her bio, she's an engineer and comes from an engineering and manufacturing background. Her last position was vp of HR. Don't know if she will be good or not but at least she's an engineer by training.

[Mr.VENGEANCE]

could it be.... that one of the BEST drivers ON HERE.... is a woman?

starts with a Mary ends with a Muthafuchin POZZI.

[wmhjr]

I didn't even bother to respond about her gender. Who cares? If she's good, she's good. If she's not, she's not.

[CarlC]

It's very common for large companies to shuffle up-and-comers to departments that are not normally geared toward their education and background. It gives them a flavor of how other departments work so that when they make the upper management level the familiarity is there.

[Chevrolaine]

could it be.... that one of the BEST drivers ON HERE.... is a woman?

starts with a Mary ends with a Muthafuchin POZZI.
Uh, yeah. Reading is a skill. I think I mentioned that. :spank2:

And I'm just posting it because a lot of the industry analysts/experts thought it was a pretty bold move also by bringing a female into a position dominated by men since it's inception. Didn't say I disagreed with it. She started on the factory floor and worked her way up. Woulda been easy for them to hire an outsider. Kudos to her.

Don't shoot the messenger.

[mc84_zz4]

I think they shuffled her into VP of HR to retain her when the major reorgs began, and she must have some good people skills. She was VP of global manufacturing engineering before she went to HR (when the Obama Adm. appointed Akerson and Whitacre as directors), and now will be Senior VP of global product development.
More power to her, she could be one of the new champions that GM needed, and it sounds like she is more of a car-person than some of the new heads that came from non-car backgrounds, (like Akerson and Whitacre) which are mostly from Telco backgrounds.
Time will tell, I hope she gets to earn her keep.
She can talk shop from an engineering perspective, if she can talk management-talk, she's going to do great. Being the VP of HR, would give me a warm fuzzy that she can pull it off.

[shmoov69]

Would've been nice to have a "woman engineer" like Stacy Tucker!!!

Hopefully this person likes cars, not just dollars!

[trapin]

For the record...Obama did not appoint Dan Akerson.

I (as well as a lot of us in my department) are very confused by this. We remember her as the administrator of "Answer Me Now" which was an internal blog at GM on our Socrates site that addressed all employee questions during the bankruptcy. She was practically zero help to any of us in fact all she succeeded in doing really was pissing a lot of us off. When we first got the memo we were in shock.

I have no idea what to make of this. I pray she has the necessary background for it.

I can think of at least 5 women executives here at GM that I would be MUCH more comfortable with.

But I'll give her the benefit of the doubt. Good luck to her.

[Mr.VENGEANCE]

Uh, yeah. Reading is a skill. I think I mentioned that. :spank2:

And I'm just posting it because a lot of the industry analysts/experts thought it was a pretty bold move also by bringing a female into a position dominated by men since it's inception. Didn't say I disagreed with it. She started on the factory floor and worked her way up. Woulda been easy for them to hire an outsider. Kudos to her.

Don't shoot the messenger.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/noimg.gif

[vanzuuk1]

She doesnt need to be an engineer,and she doesnt need a penis.She needs to make the company profitable and able to provide employment.

[wmhjr]

She doesnt need to be an engineer,and she doesnt need a penis.She needs to make the company profitable and able to provide employment.

No, you're wrong -at least with the latter part of your statement. Her job is not to provide employment. Her primary job isn't even to make the company profitable. Her job is "product development". We're not totally socialist yet. Creating jobs is a byproduct and not the purpose of Gm. Designing, building and selling cars is. Most would agree that HER job requires some knowledge of engineering. The CFO position does not. Different jobs require different skill sets.

[vanzuuk1]

You are right, I did not read her job title close enough. Either way she does not need a penis.

[Jim Nilsen]

What gets me about the article is that no matter if it was her or any other person the thought that the one in that position has to teach their bosses about what to do. This is a good way to set up failure of some kind just because of experience being controlled by inexperience.

I wish her luck and hope she can pull it it off, most anyone would be taking on more than they could handle with that job.

[shmoov69]

You are right, I did not read her job title close enough. Either way she does not need a penis.

Personally, I don't think ANY "she" needs a penis!!!! That's just wrong on so many levels!!! LOL

[zbugger]

I read this recently and thought that Lutz should still be in there.

http://www.autoblog.com/2011/01/25/how-bob-lutz-made-four-auto-journalists-his-secret-weapons-at/

I'm crazy though.

[vanzuuk1]

Personally, I don't think ANY "she" needs a penis!!!! That's just wrong on so many levels!!! LOL

True...

[vanzuuk1]

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/noimg.gif

Awesome,where do you find this stuff?

[Mr.VENGEANCE]

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2011/01/80999678-1.jpg

[moreHP]

:rolleyes:As long as the next model of the camaro isnt the hello kitty pink version, its all good.