Suryadevara to Succeed Stevens as GM’s Finance Chief

General Motors Co. has appointed Dhivya Suryadevara to succeed Chuck Stevens as the company’s chief financial officer, effective Sept. 1.

Stevens, a 40-year GM veteran, will serve as an advisor until he retires next March. He has been CFO since January 2014 and is credited with helping to drive growth throughout the company and fostering a team-oriented environment.

Suryadevara is a 39-year-old Harvard Business School graduate who currently serves as GM's vice president of corporate finance. GM’s first female CFO, she will report directly to CEO Mary Barra.

A native of India, Suryadevara has been on the fast track since joining the carmaker in 2005. She served as GM’s treasurer from 2015 to 2017. In that role, she is said to have played a key role in GM’s 2016 acquisition of Cruise Automation and securing last month’s $2.3 billion investment by Japan’s SoftBank in the ride-hailing company.

Suryadevara also was part of the team that oversaw the sale of GM’s Opel unit in Europe to PSA Group.