Detroit-based automotive titan General Motors (GM) has made the decision to add two new leaders to its Board of Directors. Effective immediately, Meg Whitman, the former President of now-defunct Quibi, and Mark Tatum, the Deputy Commissioner and COO of the NBA, will guide the automaker as it charts its course into a new era.
GM’s diverse board now is comprised of 13 members, 7 of whom are women, which CEO Mary Barra calls a competitive advantage for the company.
In the company’s press release GM’s chief executive said, “Mark and Meg will bring unique experiences to the Board, especially in technology, brand building and customer experience that will help us drive value for shareholders and other GM stakeholders now and into the future.”
Before joining GM, Whitman was most the President of failed media startup Quibi but she also served as the President and CEO of eBay from 1998 to 2008, the President and CEO of HP from 2011 to 2015, and the CEO of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from 2015 to 2018. While Tatum has been with the NBA since 1999 and currently serves as Deputy Commissioner and Chief Operating Officer. As the organization’s COO, he oversees global business operations in addition to the NBA G League and NBA 2K League.
This depth of brand-building talent, whether it be from the globally watched NBA or the helm of successive tech giants, will be essential to GM as it looks to pivot its image from a legacy automaker to an industry-leading electric vehicle company. The 113-year-old company has invested $27 billion through 2025 to launch 30 electric vehicles globally and aspires to eliminate tailpipe emissions from new light-duty vehicles by 2035.
Whitman said, “GM’s growth strategy has all the elements of a startup but with far greater scale, millions of customers and a strong underlying business. This makes it a very exciting time to join the Board.”
While Tatum stated, “GM is changing a more than 100-year-old business model and marshalling thousands of people and billions of dollars to drive solutions that matter for the environment, communities, businesses and investors. Joining the Board and helping accelerate that change is an honor and I look forward to working with the GM team and my fellow directors to make it happen.”
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