Mary Barra, General Motors senior vice president, Global Product Development, will deliver the charge to the graduates at Kettering University’s commencement ceremony at 11 a.m. June 8 in the Connie and Jim John Recreation Center.
Barra, a 1985 Kettering graduate, currently sits on the Kettering University Board of Trustees.
The Kettering University 2013 graduating class consists of 201 students; at commencement 132 bachelor’s degrees and 69 master’s degrees will be awarded. Twelve students will graduate summa cum laude, 36 will graduate magna cum laude and 29 will graduate cum laude.
Mary Barra '85
Barra was named Senior Vice President, Global Product Development in February 2011. She’s responsible for the design, engineering, program management and quality for General Motors’ vehicles around the world. She is a member of the Executive Operations Committee and serves on the Adam Opel AG Supervisory Board.
Prior to this, Barra was most recently vice president, Global Human Resources. She has also served as GM Vice President, Global Manufacturing Engineering; Plant Manager, Detroit Hamtramck Assembly; Executive Director of Competitive Operations Engineering; and has held several engineering and staff positions.
Barra began her career with GM in 1980 as a General Motors Institute (Kettering University) co-op student at the Pontiac Motor Division. She graduated in 1985 from Kettering University with a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering. In 1988 Barra was awarded a GM fellowship and in 1990 she graduated from the Stanford Graduate School of Business with a Masters degree in Business Administration.
Currently, she serves on the General Dynamics and Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer
Institute Board of Directors. Barra is the Key Executive for Stanford University and University of California-Berkeley.
For more information on Kettering University’s commencement, visit the website.