In what could be termed as an historic step, automobile major General Motors (GM) has appointed 51-year-old Mary T Barra as the new chief executive of the company. She will be the first woman to hold the top post since the company. Her anointment has come as a major step by the Detroit-headquartered GM and Barra is expected to be a guiding force for the US’ largest and most powerful auto company that went bankrupt four years ago and had to be bailed out by the government for USD49.5 billion.

Barra aspired to join the company and make a mark for her own in the industry since she was a child and at 18, she entered the GM technical school to become an engineer. Her father was a die maker in the same company for 39 long years and Barra has spent 33 years with GM. She was chosen unanimously from a handful of internal candidates to succeed Daniel F Akerson and in the process beat some prominent candidates for the job, including Mark Reuss, the head of company’s North American operations and son of a former president of the automobile major.

Barra, who was the senior executive overseeing all of GM’s global product development prior to be given the top charge, has been a rank-and-file engineer, a plant manager besides head of corporate human resources.

Top company officials say that Barra ‘brought order to chaos’ in GM's vast product development organisation by flattening its bureaucracy and cutting overlapping layers of executives. She was also instrumental in reducing the number of expensive, global vehicle platforms apart from bringing new models to market faster and at lower cost.
During her tenure, GM has introduced competitive small cars like the Chevrolet Sonic and redesigned versions of its big-selling pickup trucks. Barra has also been a champion of more fuel-efficient engines and lighter-weight vehicles.

Known in the company as a consensus builder who calls her staff together on a moment's notice to brainstorm on pressing issues, Barra is an early riser who is often in her office by6 am. While she has a low-key personality, Barra, the mother of two teenage children, is keenly competitive when it comes to beating rival automakers.
Barra's biggest challenge is to continue to ensure improvements in GM's product line up. The company has overhauled many of its models since emerging from bankruptcy in 2009, but its American market share remains stuck at about 18 percent. Her other hurdles include fixing GM's troubled European operations and spurring more growth in China besides other parts of Asia. 

• Follow @CNCTimes