Mary Barra's first year on the job as the first woman ever to lead a global automaker was about as rough as a CEO’s first year can be. Barra, a General Motors lifer, took the helm at GM in January 2014. Just a few weeks into the gig, she found herself navigating a catastrophic recall of millions of GM-made cars due to faulty ignition switches, some of which had caused fatal accidents. Barra spent much of her debut year on Capitol Hill, testifying in front of lawmakers who grilled her about why the defects had gone unfixed for so long.
It was the kind of experience that might make you want to quit before year two—but this January, Barra celebrated year 10. Leading the company through the recall crisis gave her momentum to reform GM’s culture and reorganize it to prepare for an electric-vehicle revolution; it also helped her earn the No. 1 position on our MPW list from 2015 through 2017. Since then, she’s led GM to its strongest financial position since its 2009 bankruptcy, when the government was compelled to provide the automaker a financial lifeline. And this year, she reclaims our top spot.
