General Motors top executive Dan Akerson said a woman could take over as head of the automaker for the first time after he steps down as chief executive.
He said Mary Barra, GM’s global product development chief, who oversees a US$15bn operation, is a candidate to succeed him adding that that he believes women deal with change better than men and that GM still has a lot of changes to make since its 2009 bankruptcy and US$50bn government bailout.
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Akerson said it was critical for the world’s largest automaker to boost the ranks of its top female executives although he added: “It’s the board’s job (to pick a replacement), not mine.”
Akerson was speaking at a Wall Street Journal conference in Palm Beach, Florida, that discussed women in the economy. He added that the US Treasury, which still owns slightly more than a quarter of GM’s outstanding stock, was not involved in decision making.
Asked if taxpayers will get their money back following the bail-out, Akerson replied: “I don’t know.”
He said he would prefer the next CEO to come from within GM but the board would decide. He gave no time frame for his exit and said he would stay as long as he was making a contribution and the board wanted him.
Analysts believe other candidates to succeed him include vice chairman Steve Girsky, 50, and North American operations chief Mark Reuss, 48.
Akerson said women make up 20-25% of GM’s top 50 executives. “Four of 12 of our directors are women, one of our women runs Europe and some of our biggest plants are run by women,” he said. “20% of our technical staff are women. We seek women with engineering degrees.”
Barra joined GM in 1980 and has had various manufacturing and engineering jobs and was vice president in charge of global human resources. She was named senior vice president in charge of global product development in February last year and in January was appointed to the supervisory board of GM’s struggling Opel European unit.
