Alicia Boler-Davis has been executive vice president, General Motors Global Manufacturing since June 2016. She is a member of the Executive Leadership Team at GM. She reports to GM Chairman and CEO Mary Barra and lead 150,000 employees at 150 facilities in 20 countries. She also has responsibility for labor relations. She is the Highest ranking African American in the Automotive Industry.
Prior to this assignment, Boler-Davis was senior vice president, Global Connected Customer Experience since November 2014, where she led the company’s connected customer activities, including infotainment, OnStar and GM’s Urban Active personal mobility initiatives. In February 2012, Boler-Davis was appointed U.S. vice president, Customer Experience. Later that year, her role was expanded to vice president, Global Quality and U.S. Customer Experience. Under her leadership, GM improved vehicle quality and fundamentally redefined customer care and its interaction with customers through social media channels and Customer Engagement Centers.
Previously, Boler-Davis was simultaneously plant manager of the Michigan Orion Assembly and Pontiac Stamping facilities, as well as vehicle line director and vehicle chief engineer, North America Small Cars, positions she held through January 2012. Prior to that, she was plant manager at the Lansing, Mich., Consolidated Operations and Arlington Assembly in Texas, where she was the first African-American woman to be a plant manager at a GM vehicle manufacturing plant. Boler-Davis began her GM career in 1994 as a manufacturing engineer at the Midsize/Luxury Car Division in Warren, Mich. During her career, she has held many positions of increasing responsibility in Manufacturing, Engineering and Product Development.
Numerous organizations and publications have recognized Boler-Davis for her professional accomplishments and community service. Of note, in 2014 she was named Technologist of the Year by Women of Color Magazine. In 2013, Fortune magazine named her as one of the 10 most powerful women in the automotive industry. In 2010, Automotive News included Boler-Davis in its list of the 100 Leading Women in the North American Automotive Industry.
She is a member of the Northwestern University McCormick Advisory Council, a board trustee of the Care House of Oakland County, and a member of the General Mills Board of Directors. Boler-Davis also serves as Executive Liaison for the GM WOMEN leadership board. Boler-Davis has a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Northwestern University, a master’s degree in engineering science from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and an MBA from Indiana University.