Dhivya Suryadevara

#69/100 in #100extraordinarywomen 

In an industry not exactly known for its diversity, an iconic American carmaker has appointed its first female chief financial officer (CFO). And she’s from Chennai, India. 

On June 13, 2018, General Motors (GM), the maker of Buick, Cadillac, and Chevrolet cars, said that 39-year-old Dhivya Suryadevara will take over as CFO in September. Suryadevara joined the company in 2005, and has held various positions over the years. Since July 2017, she’s been serving as its vice-president for corporate finance. With Suryadevara’s appointment, GM joins a handful of companies, including Hershey Co and Signet Jewelers, that have women serving as both CEO and CFO. In 2014, Mary Barra became the first woman to make it to the top of a major automobile company as CEO of GM. In 2018, Dhivya became the first woman to become the CFO of a major automobile company. She would replace current CFO Chuck Stevens, who has been working at the auto company longer than Dhivya has been alive. 

As of now, she is managing two simultaneous jobs at General Motors, as she over­sees funding for the automaker’s capital activities, banking relation­ships, and $80 billion pension plan. She commutes between New York City, where her home and family are, and Detroit. Earlier in the month, she played a key role in getting a $2.25 billion investment in GM Cruise by Japanese tech giant SoftBank Group Corp, and GM’s investment in San Francisco-based on-demand transportation company Lyft. 

GM CEO Mary Barra, who has made significant strides to increase female leadership in the company, says Dhivya is ready. "Dhivya's experience and leadership in several key roles throughout our financial operations positions her well to build on the strong business results we've delivered over the last several years," Barra said. Although Dhivya never imagined going into the automotive industry, she has said that she's always enjoyed anything "challenging and complicated." That was also the theme of her upbringing in Chennai, India. After her father passed away when Suryadevara was young, all parenting duties fell onto her mother. "My mom had to raise three children on her own, which is difficult to do anywhere, let alone in India," she said. "She wanted to make sure there were no corners cut when it came to our education and to prove that we could have the same resources as a two-parent household." Her mother's high expectations stayed with Suryadevara as she completed her bachelor's and master's degree in commerce at the University of Madras. When she was 22, Suryadevara traveled to the U.S. for the first time to attend Harvard Business School, where she got an MBA. 

She began her career at PricewaterhouseCoopers before moving to investment banking at UBS. At 25, she joined GM as a senior financial analyst at the treasurer’s office, and she’s been with the company ever since, eventually becoming one of the youngest chief investment officers of GM Asset Management, in which she managed $85 billion worth of assets for the company’s pension plans. She served as CEO and Chief Investment Officer for GM Asset Management from 2013 to 2017. Dhivya is also a chartered financial analyst and a chartered accountant. In 2015, she was named one of Fortune Magazine’s 40 under 40. At the time, she revealed that her very first car had been a Buick Enclave. 

Dhivya’s husband and 12-year-old daughter are based in New York. Weekends, she’s home, and the weeks are dependent on what’s going on at any given time. She spends a lot of time going back and forth. But that had never deterred her. She says, “It teaches you to be more efficient. When I’m in Detroit, I take more meetings and focus on work so that it’s easier for me to be with my family when I’m in New York. And I work while I travel. I get hundreds of e-mails each day. I use my time on the plane to go through them.” 

Dhivya unwinds by exercising, especially boxing. She finds it very therapeutic. She also refrains from giving any Mantra for “maintaining a balance” and believes that it’s about prioritization. She doesn’t have time to cook; she recognizes that and doesn’t even bother. “You can’t follow a template that works for someone else. I don’t have a silver bullet for balance, but I try to make the most of every week, recognizing that there will be some weeks that are hard.” 

In taking on the CFO role, Dhivya Suryadevara joins a class of female chief financial officers that’s grown in recent years. Let’s hope her tribe increases further. 

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