GM makes several leadership changes, creates a new global role, to improve speed to market

In an effort to respond faster to consumer demands and develop new vehicles more efficiently, General Motors announced a number of leadership changes Wednesday, including a new president of North America as current president, Rory Harvey, moves to a newly created global job.

The leadership moves, which all take effect Jan. 2, were sparked by the retirement of Doug Parks, GM executive vice president of global product development, purchasing and supply chain, after a nearly 40-year career at the company, GM said in a news release. That led GM to make several changes to its product development team and create a new role to oversee its global regions.

Parks, 62, who started at GM in 1984, led various engineering teams responsible for the development of dozens of vehicles across Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac brands, all of GM's regions and developing the foundation for the company's electric vehicles.

“We’ve spent years preparing GM to transition to an all-electric future and Doug's leadership has been pivotal. We are grateful for his many contributions to GM's success,” said CEO Mary Barra. “The changes we are announcing today will continue to drive technical excellence and deliver groundbreaking vehicles to our customers around the world.”

New product development team

Ken Morris, 57, will be promoted to senior vice president of product programs, product safety and motorsports — essentially replacing Parks. Morris will be responsible for global product safety, launch excellence and motorsports product development. He is currently vice president of global vehicle and propulsion teams, Morris retains his current responsibilities leading global vehicle programs, GM spokesman Kevin Kelly told the Free Press.

Josh Tavel, 44, will be promoted from his current job as global vice president of customer care and aftersales to senior vice president of energy storage and propulsion, R&D, and manufacturing engineering. GM said Tavel, who had been the chief engineer of the Chevrolet Bolt previously, will lead efforts to integrate GM’s products and processes in ways that will help GM accelerate its move to all-electric vehicles by 2035.

Morris and Tavel will report to GM President Mark Reuss.

A new role for president of GM North America

President of GM North America, Rory Harvey, 56, will move into a newly created role as executive vice president and president of global markets. Harvey will work with the global regional teams to bring the right vehicles, software and technologies to customers around the world, GM said in its release.

Harvey was named as president of North America in May of this year after leading Cadillac since 2020. As the Free Press has reported, he first joined GM 30 years ago. Harvey has held a variety of management positions in Europe and the Middle East.

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Kelly said moving Harvey into the newly created role is “to better align all our global markets and streamline decision making to respond to what’s needed by consumers faster and reduce product development time.”

Harvey will report to Reuss.

Meanwhile, GM Canada's Managing Director Marissa West, 42, will replace Harvey as president of GM North America and will report to Harvey, Kelly said. GM has not yet named West's replacement at GM Canada, he said.

Contact Jamie L. LaReau: jlareau@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @jlareauan. Read more on General Motors and sign up for our autos newsletter. Become a subscriber.