Spartan Profiles:Grace Lieblein
In 2009, when the company faced a financial crisis, General Motors tapped the first Hispanic woman ever to lead GM de Mexico. The selection of Grace Lieblein, MBA ’87, to be president and managing director turned out to be fortuitous.
Lieblein combines managing skills with engineering experience—she was the chief vehicle engineer for GM’s midsize crossovers, such as the Buick Enclave, which was endorsed by Tiger Woods. She has since turned GM de Mexico around and put it on a solid footing. “GM has re-structured globally and reduced the number of brands,” explains Grace. “In Mexico, we came out much stronger. The crisis forced us to focus—and that’s what we did. Our cost structure is down, our portfolio is where we want it, and we have the best team anywhere in the world. I am very optimistic.”
A native of Los Angeles, Grace graduated from Kettering University, Flint, and was working as an engineer in Lansing’s Oldsmobile company when she decided to pursue her MBA at MSU. “Both my husband Tom and I majored in materials and logistics management,” she recalls. “It was great. We studied things like purchasing and distribution that we directly were able to apply at work. It was very helpful.”
Before taking charge of a company that employs 11,000 people and sells some 160,000 cars a year, Grace showed great skill in launching the midsize luxury crossover line—the Buick Enclave, GMC Acadia and Chevy Traverse. “We launched in 2007,” she says. “They have sold very well, both in the U.S. and in Mexico. Even today, whenever I see one of those cars, I get a ting and think—that’s my car.”
After two years, Grace has stabilized GM de Mexico’s market share, which now ranks second in new car sales. And in 2010 she introduced the Buick brand into Mexico. “We introduced just two cars—the Enclave and the LaCrosse,” she says. “We are very new, but we are doing very, very well.”
