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From St John's Senior Secondary School in Chennai to the CFO of Detroit-based General Motors, Dhivya Suryadevara, 39, became the first female CFO in the global auto industry.
Divya spent her early years in a Mandaveli, a neighbourhood in Chennai when she completed her schooling and undergrad. With a Bachelors' degree in Commerce at 22, Dhivya moved to the US to gain her Business Degree from Harvard University. As a young girl, Dhivya lost her father and her mother raised her along with her two sisters.
In an interview to Real Simple magazine, Dhivya says, "My mom had to raise three children on her own, which is difficult to do anywhere, let alone in India. 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 high expectations made us want to do better, and we learned that nothing comes easy. You have to really work hard to get what you want.”
She went on to join UBS as an investment banker and moved to GM where she served in several positions. In her latest role as Vice President, Corporate Finance, Suryadevara played an integral part in securing several deals as the company restructured operations.
She even played a significant part in securing a USD 2.25 billion investment in GM Cruise, a self-driving vehicle startup, by the Japanese tech giant SoftBank.
Dhivya Suryadevara will be replacing Chuck Stevens, 58, a 40-year veteran of GM.
With this, GM becomes one of a handful of companies and the first in the auto industry to have women serve as both the CEO as well as CFO. Mary Barra became the CEO of GM in 2014 making her the first woman CEO in the highly male-dominated auto industry.
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