Breaking barriers is nothing new to Mary Barra. In 2014, she became the first woman to lead a major auto maker after being named CEO and chair of General Motors, and last year, she made history again as the first-ever female chair of the Business Roundtable, a nonprofit association comprised of the country’s top CEOs. The Business Roundtable—which spent $29.1 million lobbying for policies to spur job creation, improve U.S. competitiveness and strengthen the economy in 2021—notably redefined the purpose of a corporation in 2019, with 181 CEOs signing a commitment to lead their companies for the benefit of all stakeholders—not just shareholders. And while Barra has taken the helm of one of the nation’s most powerful trade groups, she hasn’t stopped driving progress at GM. Already one of the top three companies in the world for gender equality, Barry is steering GM toward tackling another global problem: climate change. GM recently announced that it’s committing upwards of $7 billion to electric car and battery production, with plans to deliver around 400,000 electric vehicles in the U.S. between now and 2023.
