GM de Mexico Announces Grace Lieblein as President and Managing Director

AUTO CENTRAL – December 2, 2008: General Motors Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner announced today that Grace Lieblein, currently global vehicle chief engineer for front wheel drive trucks, has been appointed president and managing director of GM de Mexico (GMM) effective immediately. She succeeds Kevin Williams, who was recently appointed GM North America (GMNA) vice president and general manager of GM Service & Parts Operations. Lieblein will also become a member of the GMNA Strategy Board and will report to Troy Clarke, group vice president and president of GMNA. Lieblein is the 18th GMM president and managing director in GM’s 73-year history in Mexico, and the first woman to serve in this role.

“We are very pleased to have an extraordinary leader like Grace taking on this key assignment,” Wagoner said. “With her extensive engineering and product development background, combined with strong business acumen, Grace is the ideal person to help GM maintain and enhance its leadership position in Mexico.”

Lieblein, 48, joined GM in 1978 as a co-op student at the GM Assembly Division in her hometown of Los Angeles, CA. She earned a master’s degree in management from Michigan State University in 1987, and a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering from Kettering University in 1983. In her most recent assignment, Lieblein led the development of award-winning crossover vehicles like the Buick Enclave, GMC Acadia, Saturn Outlook and Chevrolet Traverse. Prior to that she served as an implementation leader for GM’s global manufacturing system, and as director of engineering design for GMNA’s car group, among other positions.

As the company’s highest-ranked Latina executive and its first Latina vehicle chief engineer, Lieblein has won several awards over her 30-year career, including the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) Corporate Achievement Award; the Hispanic Engineering National Achievement Awards Conference (HENNAC) Professional Achievement Award; Automotive News’ Top 100 Women in the Auto Industry; and Hispanic Business’ top 50 Businesswomen in the United States.