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GM CFO Dhivya Suryadevara Leaves The Company

Dhivya Suryadevara has announced she will resign as General Motors executive vice president and GM CFO. In her stead, GM North America chief financial officer John Stapleton has been appointed acting global chief financial officer, effective August 15th.

Former GM CFO Dhivya Suryadevara

According to a recent General Motors press release, Dhivya Suryadevara is leaving the company for an opportunity outside the automotive industry. GM says that it will conduct a search for a permanent replacement internally and externally.

“Dhivya has been a transformational leader in her tenure as CFO,” said Chairman and GM CEO, Mary Barra. “She has helped the company strengthen our balance sheet, improve our cost structure, focus on cash generation and drive the right investments for our future. We wish her every success.”

GM Renaissance Center

GM Renaissance Center

Suryadevara served as GM CFO for nearly two years. “I am grateful for the opportunities I have been given at GM,” Suryadevara said. “While I look forward to a new opportunity that will allow me to apply my skills in a new sector, I have great confidence in GM’s trajectory and future.”

Going forward, Suryadevara will serve as Chief Financial Officer at Stripe, a financial services and software as a service (SaaS) company based out of San Francisco, California. Stripe provides payment processing software and application programming interfaces for e-commerce and mobile applications. Stripe has brought on over 400 new employees thus far in 2020, including the recent appointments of Mike Clayville from Amazon Web Services as the company’s Chief Revenue Officer, and Trish Walsh from Voya Financial as General Counsel.

New acting GM CFO John Stapleton

New acting GM CFO John Stapleton

New acting GM CFO John Stapleton has served as GM North America chief financial officer since January of 2014, originally joining General Motors in 1990 and holding a series of finance roles with increasing responsibility in manufacturing, labor, performance improvements, and operations.

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Jonathan is an automotive journalist based out of Southern California. He loves anything and everything on four wheels.

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Comments

  1. Good riddance.

    Reply
    1. Why?

      Reply
      1. Chief Bean Counter who engineered thousands of layoffs, and held back dollars that would fund badly needed product enhancements and improvements.

        Reply
    2. I agree, one down two to go!

      Reply
  2. Wow…did not see this coming. It’s ironic too, because GM absolutely loved to tout the hiring of Dhivya to such a prominent position as a showcasing of their commitment to diversity in their upper management, at least diversity of race. She came across as extremely intelligent during interviews.

    Me personally, I don’t know enough about her to judge her fully, but I will always remember the massive layoffs that came under her watch. I’ll also remember the canning of the CT6 and Blackwing V8. Others will argue that this saved GM billions in expenses. The jury is still out on these things.

    While GM continues to focus on diversity, may I make a humble suggestion? I think the diversity in their upper management that is actually needed is not race, gender, religion, etc. – I don’t like to focus on those things. Instead, I wish GM would focus on the diversity of putting one actual car enthusiast among a sea of corporate beancounters. Tell me if I’m wrong on this.

    Reply
    1. I second this – GM has become a truck company focused on only 2 markets and shedding all the rest. They are nr 5 or 6 in the world now… coming from 1st place.

      Reply
  3. Everyone is so desperate to make political comments. An Exec is moving on. Big deal.

    Reply
    1. Nothing I said was political. I simply referenced the way GM constantly advertised her role with the company, and made a comment about her influence in GM financial decisions. Reading politics into is either by design from GM’s own actions, or on you.

      Reply
  4. Rats deserting a sinking ship, the problem is these people don’t live and breathe GM products, she will probably go and buy a BMW now

    Reply
  5. After reading the above,

    G8Burnout, I did not see anything political in your comments, and I agree with the way she was portrayed, as diversified, and I believe she was. I also think she was good at money and not so good at a long term value of product. But I no longer believe anyone at GM has that ability any longer !
    My problem with appointing a car enthusiast to any roll is what car ? at GM you need a person who understands value of transportation products ! and in the past and in the now and in the future.
    Look at Mark Reuss, he is a great, simply great person to be at the performance part, yet the EV future, you need a techy guru who can articulate the design to the demographic you are after, and luxury, Mark is the worst person at that position. A performance boomer, is a Chevy V8 guy, give them a seat and HP and a good sounding exhaust, they are happy as hell !
    But a luxury person needs to understand it, the snob white woman, the elegant mid life woman, the go getter business person.
    And I believe you Simon, but in CA, she will be driving a Tesla probably !

    I also don’t think this is any big deal, YET, YET, GM just CAN NOT get any traction on anything they do !!!!!
    I’m not sure its her fault, or just the management team, BUT GM has been saying they are going to have something great for 5 years now and they have NOTHING but average GM ” Good Enough ” vehicles!
    Just seem to be a buck short of a good product !
    Spend an extra buck and make two extra bucks in the future !!
    And where does China fit in here ?
    China is the only main focus at GM any longer, without the full size line GM would have failed again already in the USA !
    GM simply needs to get the lead out, they are so far behind the leaders of today !!
    I am ok with playing it safe somewhere, being cheap, but you can NOT do it on EVERYTHING you do, soon you are just known as CHEAP !!
    And in my opinion, that is where GM is at !
    From the onslaught of new ICE Cadillacs that are lackluster, and cheap, to the interior of the new trucks cheap.
    I am NOT saying some of the GM products are not good, but very, very, very few are great ! Maybe 3 out of 300, maybe GM should shoot for 25% great, 50% ” good enough “, and 25% cheap junk. Even if GM only made 20 total products, at least 5 would be GREAT products !

    Reply
    1. I am still stunned that GM has burned through so much cash funding their “Autonomous and EV” ventures. Don’t know why they did not split it off as GM-Technology and take on more investments money instead of burning the profits that their shareholders should have been awarded with for their ownership of the company. Seems like they “Hope” maintaining control will lead to a bigger payoff later.

      As far as touting the “Female” CFO thing, you are correct. It is all about showcasing Inclusion and Diversity. It will be interesting to see if the “Fill in” replacement is awarded the full time job. Maybe they will finds an LGBTQ++ Female/Male Minority to hire so they can advertise their Progressive Political Presence again.

      Reply
      1. Yeah for me its not about the diversity.
        And it is for sure not about the dividend payments !!!
        For me it is just one more example of GM ( and other old large US corporations ) still thinking they have the upper hand ! The upper hand at what, the upper with who ?

        This could just have something to do with the top pay freeze.
        However for me it is just another example of the really smart and talented people NOT being able to change GM or fit in !
        Its like I have said about GM and ” New Tech “. GM is still trying to buy ” New Tech ” on the cheap !
        Like GM moving Cadillac to NYC, they wanted to appeal to ” New Tech “. Most of the ” New Tech ” at GM is now China !
        And GM is STILL, STILL at least 2 years away form ANYTHING remotely resembling ” New Tech “.
        And any ” New Tech ” gurus would laugh at this, why would they laugh ? Because anyone who develops or even uses true ” New Tech ” knows that anything 2 years old, in ” New Tech” is really OLD TECH !!
        GM needs to spend more time on MOVING FASTER, and FIXING the mistakes as they go !

        Yet GM is STILL operating like OLD GM where you,
        Develop a product
        Source the components
        And set back and run that model into the ground for return on investment.
        Now GM has gotten a little bit sneaky-smart on this, yet again it shows how GM is still the OLD corporation.
        GM is trying to FOOL the customer into thinking ” You see, we can change fast every 2 years like the ” New Tech ”
        Yet all GM changes fast on the fly in 2 years is plastic fantastic, metal stamping, and paint ! ( And don’t forget wheels, I almost forgot wheels )
        Yet you look at the interiors, and the Tech, in a GM product.
        WOW is is sad and OLD, even the new stuff is OLD already !
        And the new stuff, like the Escalade, or even the new Vette, are STILL far away ! Sure GM is fooling the customer once again by releasing them, there are a FEW on the road, yet the dates to get one just keep moving and rolling back as to prolong the hype for the two years that never really come !!!
        And the money waisted, WOW the money waisted, how could she stand it as a CFO ? Just the Cadillac line alone, not to mention things like Volt and others. Spend, justify, spend, spend, and spend some more then GONE !!!!
        !!!!!POOOOOOF !!!!!
        And when GM spend, justify, spend, justify, spend, spend, goes on, then they need return ( like the Cadillac line ) but their own system for this makes it IMPOSSIBLE to see a return, so KILL, POOOOOOF, GONE !

        I think Dhivya saw this, she is young, she is smart, and so goes ” New Tech ” AWAY from GM, slow boat to nonexistence.

        Get this figured out GM !!
        Kill all the ” SAME AS EXCEPT ” product, make a few good to great products !

        And for the love of God, STAND BEHIND THEM WITH SOME CUSTOMER SUPPORT !!!!

        It is killing you !

        Reply
        1. Fifteen semi structured paragraphs! You can’t make a point with a stick and a knife! At least we didn’t have to read about your 8 speed transmission.
          She quit, good now all we have to get rid of is the CMO and CEO.

          Reply
          1. Jofa,
            I don’t even own a GM 8 speed junk transmission !
            I have NEVER owned a GM 8 speed junk transmission !!!!
            I WILL NEVER own a GM 8 speed junk transmission !!!!!

            However I HAVE been treated just like the people who own the GM 8 speed junk transmission y the HORRIBLE GM customer support, or again NO GM customer support !

            Reply
  6. After reading the above,

    G8Burnout, I did not see anything political in your comments, and I agree with the way she was portrayed, as diversified, and I believe she was. I also think she was good at money and not so good at a long term value of product. But I no longer believe anyone at GM has that ability any longer !
    My problem with appointing a car enthusiast to any roll is what car ? at GM you need a person who understands value of transportation products ! and in the past and in the now and in the future.
    Look at Mark Reuss, he is a great, simply great person to be at the performance part, yet the EV future, you need a techy guru who can articulate the design to the demographic you are after, and luxury, Mark is the worst person at that position. A performance boomer, is a Chevy V8 guy, give them a seat and HP and a good sounding exhaust, they are happy as h3ll !
    But a luxury person needs to understand it, the snob white woman, the elegant mid life woman, the go getter business person.
    And I believe you Simon, but in CA, she will be driving a Tesla probably !

    I also don’t think this is any big deal, YET, YET, GM just CAN NOT get any traction on anything they do !!!!!
    I’m not sure its her fault, or just the management team, BUT GM has been saying they are going to have something great for 5 years now and they have NOTHING but average GM ” Good Enough ” vehicles!
    Just seem to be a buck short of a good product !
    Spend an extra buck and make two extra bucks in the future !!
    And where does China fit in here ?
    China is the only main focus at GM any longer, without the full size line GM would have failed again already in the USA !
    GM simply needs to get the lead out, they are so far behind the leaders of today !!
    I am ok with playing it safe somewhere, being cheap, but you can NOT do it on EVERYTHING you do, soon you are just known as CHEAP !!
    And in my opinion, that is where GM is at !
    From the onslaught of new ICE Cadillacs that are lackluster, and cheap, to the interior of the new trucks cheap.
    I am NOT saying some of the GM products are not good, but very, very, very few are great ! Maybe 3 out of 300, maybe GM should shoot for 25% great, 50% ” good enough “, and 25% cheap junk. Even if GM only made 20 total products, at least 5 would be GREAT products !

    Reply
  7. I don’t blame her. I wouldn’t want Mary Barry for a boss either.
    Something was up for a while since her salary went from under a million to about 5 million and she STILL quit.
    She probably has a conscious and being responsible for the thousands who lost their jobs because of her is not easy to live with.

    Reply
  8. More to come as GM gets closer to its EV failure sorry I meant future.

    Reply

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