Exhibition Visionary Female Researchers: Mary Barra

Mary Teresa Barra is born on 24 December 1961 in Waterford, Michigan, to Finnish immigrants. Even as a child, Barra is interested in mathematics and science. 

In 1980, she begins studying electrical engineering at the General Motors Institute (now Kettering University), which trains future engineers and managers in part-time degree programmes. After graduating, she initially works as an engineer at a GM Pontiac plant, where her father had also been employed as a toolmaker for 39 years. General Motors recognises her potential not only in product development, but also in management. As part of a high-potential programme, she is awarded a scholarship to study business administration at Stanford Graduate School of Business, which she completes in 1990.

In the 1990s, Barra gains her first experience at the top of the company as assistant to the then CEO Jack Smith. She then works her way up through various positions in product development and later in human resources management within the company. During this time, she marries and gives birth to two children, Nicholas and Rachel. She remains loyal to the company even during the crisis years of 2008 and 2009, when General Motors records billions in losses and can only continue to finance itself with government aid. In 2008, she is given responsibility for production engineering in all manufacturing facilities worldwide, ultimately managing a budget of 15 billion US dollars.

On 15 January 2014, Mary Barra replaces Daniel Akerson as CEO of General Motors, becoming the first woman worldwide to head an automotive group. Since her appointment to the top position at General Motors, Barra has proven herself to be a particularly successful crisis manager. The high point of her career is immediately followed by the next major crisis at General Motors with the so-called ‘ignition switch scandal’: over 2.6 million vehicles worldwide are said to be affected by a technical defect in which the ignition key switches back to the ‘off’ position while the vehicle is in motion, thereby also deactivating the power steering, airbag and brake booster. The group's management is said to have been aware of this production fault, which is believed to have led to hundreds of deaths and accidents, as early as 2001, yet it was not until 2014, under Barra's leadership, that General Motors was persuaded to publicly admit this serious mistake, carry out extensive recalls and pay compensation to victims and their families.

Barra fundamentally reforms the largest US car manufacturer in the following years, consistently focusing it on profitability and investing more heavily than the competition in future technologies – electric cars and self-driving car technology. 

Since then, Mary Barra is consistently convincing in her leadership role as a sober analyst and pragmatist who neither shies away from making unpopular decisions within the company nor bows to public pressure from politicians and the media. In 2019, despite massive criticism from the incumbent US President Donald Trump, Barra refuses to be dissuaded from closing several plants in the United States and cutting a total of over 14,000 jobs in favour of a future-oriented direction for the company.

In 2014, Time Magazine names Mary Barra one of the 100 most influential leaders in the world. Since 2016, Forbes business magazine lists her as the fifth most influential woman in the world. 

In 2018, Mary Barra is elected to the National Academy of Engineering.