Dhivya Suryadevara, an Indian-American woman hailing from Chennai, has been appointed the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of General Motors – the largest automaker in the USA. She is the first woman to assume this prestigious post in the company.
Here are 10 things to know:
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Chennai-born Dhivya, will report to Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mary Barra, 56. This is a first as no other major global automaker has a female CEO and CFO serving concurrently.
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She will take office on September 1 and will succeed Chuck Stevens, the GM’s present CFO.
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She has been GM’s vice president of corporate finance since July 2017. In her role, she has been responsible for corporate financial planning, investor relations and other projects.
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Dhivya played a crucial role in the restructuring of the company’s operations over the last several years. This included divestiture of its European arm Opel and the acquisition of self-driving vehicle startup Cruise.
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Earlier in the month, she played a key role in getting a $2.25 billion investment in GM Cruise by Japanese tech giant SoftBank Group Corp, and GM’s investment in San Francisco-based on-demand transportation company Lyft.
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Dhivya served as CEO and Chief Investment Officer for GM Asset Management from 2013 to 2017.
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Dhivya earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Commerce from the University of Madras in present-day Chennai.
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Moving to the US at the age of 22, she pursued her MBA from Harvard University.
- She is a chartered financial analyst and accountant.
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Before joining the Detroit-based GM in 2005 at the age of 25, Dhivya worked at UBS and PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Source: The News Minute