GM Chair Barra Named World’s Most Powerful Woman — Again

General Motors Chair and CEO Mary Barra’s earned plenty of accolades during her 10-plus-year tenure at the helm of the Detroit-based automaker. She’s earned another — again — topping Forbes’ 100 Most Powerful Women list. It’s the second straight year’s she’s topped the list.

In fact, since begin named CEO in 2014 — the first woman to head a major automaker — she’s topped the list five times, and never been lower than fifth on the list. She topped list both years after the methodology used to develop the list changed for 2024.

The magazine used a more complex methodology, assigning values to candidates based on those business metrics (over both 12-month and three-year periods), as well as an executive’s influence, innovation, career trajectory, and efforts to make business better.

The list numbers 100 women, but Barra is the only automotive executive on it. Half of the women work for U.S.-based companies, including the top four and seven of the top 10.

Sitting on top

Barra’s position as head of one of the world’s largest automakers helped to catapult her on to the list, but running the company well is what’s kept her there — especially in recent years.

“Mary Barra has weathered significant challenges since last year, including the disruption caused by sweeping auto tariffs introduced under former President Trump,” Forbes said in announcing the list. “Yet her steady leadership and unmatched influence have once again earned her the No. 1 spot on this year’s Most Powerful Women list — for the second consecutive year and fifth time overall.

 

“Now in her 45th year at General Motors, Barra is steering the company toward cutting-edge technologies like artificial intelligence and pushing closer to profitability in its electric vehicle business. As 2025 unfolds, GM’s future will depend on her ability to lead decisively through political uncertainty while continuing to innovate.”

Not business as usual

That political “uncertainty” currently centers on tariffs implemented by the Trump administration. Scores of GM’s highly profitable pickups are built in Mexico with Canada handling some as well. Tacking on an additional 25% eats into profits.

However, Barra’s strong push into electric vehicles is also going to get a closer look as President Trump continues to make noise about eliminating the $7,500 federal tax credit created by the Biden administration to entice buyers to make the jump.

It remains unclear if Trump’s recent purchase of a Tesla Model S, produced by Trump’s handpicked leader of the Department of Government Efficiency, Elon Musk, will change the president’s mind about the incentive — it’s unlikely.

GM continues to push ahead with its rollout of new EVs, such as the Chevrolet Blazer EV, Chevrolet Equinox EV, GMC Hummer EV, Chevrolet Silverado EV, seemingly Cadillac’s entire lineup of SUVs in the near term, and the expected Chevrolet Bolt, which was cancelled a year ago, only to be brought back to help create a more affordable model for buyers.

Despite all of this, she’s put a positive spin on her interactions with the Trump White House recently. She’s advocated to keep the EV incentives in place as well as discussed the negative impact tariffs would have on not just GM’s bottom line, but the industry as a whole, noting earlier this month, the administration has “invested the time to understand what it takes to be successful in this capital-intensive and highly competitive global industry.”

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Strong results

While the potential headwinds GM faces will put Barra’s leadership to the test, it’s not as if she hasn’t faced tough issues before. She’s remained in charge because she gets results.

GM posted record revenue in 2024, up 9% year over year. The company has also reached new milestones—doubling U.S. market share of its electric vehicles and seeing increased demand for its Chevrolet, ­Cadillac, and Buick brands, Forbes noted.

For 2023, GM managed to bring in $171.8, a nearly 10% increase year over year. Additionally Barra navigated GM through contentious negotiations with the United Auto Workers, reaching an agreement and ending a costly strike. Now CEO for more than a decade, Barra joins an exclusive group of leaders: The average tenure of a Fortune 500 CEO is 7.2 years for men and just 4.5 years for women, the magazine noted.

Many wondered if she would make it this long when she took the job in 2014. Upon becoming the auto industry’s first female CEO in January 2014, she had to deal with GM’s largest vehicle recall, more than 30 million vehicles, due to a faulty ignition switch. Ultimately, more than 120 people died and hundreds more were injured.

Barra fired 15 employees, including eight senior executives, because they didn’t tackle the problem early enough. The company established a victim’s compensation fund and paid more than $120 million to settle other claims. She took plenty of heat for the company during this time, including appearing at Congressional hearings repeatedly to answer tough questions from politicians, many of whom were looking to score political points at her expense.

What’s next?

Barra’s lasted longer as CEO than all of the men who preceded her, save Alfred P. Sloan, who helped found the company, heading it from 1923 to 1946. No other CEO has lasted longer than 10 years.

 She’s diversified the top leadership at the automaker, appointing several women to top roles, including chief financial officer, chief engineer, division heads as well as the president of the company’s captive unit.

Despite a long list of successes — and a few setbacks, most recently the closure of the company’s self-driving vehicle unit, Cruise — Barra has repeatedly insisted she is not leaving the automaker anytime soon. She was rumored to be on the short list for a position with the Trump White House in 2017, saying at the time, “I am 150 percent committed to General Motors.”