Stephen Girsky will retire from the GM Board of Directors and will not stand for reelection at the company’s Annual Meeting of Shareholders in June 2016. Girsky joined the GM board in July 2009. as the company was struggling to emerge from bankruptcy.
“Steve brought to the company expertise and skills in a variety of important areas at a critical time in GM’s history,” said Mary Barra, Chairman and CEO at GM.
In addition to serving on GM’s board, Girsky was GM Vice Chairman from March 2010 through January 2014. During that time, he was responsible for several functional areas, including:
- Global corporate strategy,
- New business development,
- Global product planning and program management,
- Global connected customer/OnStar, and
- GM Ventures LLC and global research & development.
Girsky also served as Chairman of the Adam Opel AG Supervisory Board and as interim President of GM Europe during this time frame, a critical period in which the company established its current ‘Drive Opel 2022’ strategy. Girsky also held responsibility for GM’s Global Purchasing and Supply Chain function from 2011 to 2013, and served as Senior Advisor to General Motors from January 2014 to July 2014.
Girsky is currently President of S.J. Girsky & Co., a role he returned to in July 2014. The independent advisory firm is based in New York, where Girsky applies his more than 25 years of experience working with senior corporate and board executives, labor leaders, OEM leaders, suppliers and dealers, and national and local policy makers. Girsky also recently created a new company called VectoIQ, LLC, in which he is the managing partner.
About Ken Zino
Ken Zino, editor and publisher of AutoInformed, is a versatile auto industry participant with global experience spanning decades in print and broadcast journalism, as well as social media. He has automobile testing, marketing, public relations and communications experience. He is past president of The International Motor Press Assn, the Detroit Press Club, founding member and first President of the Automotive Press Assn. He is a member of APA, IMPA and the Midwest Automotive Press Assn.
He also brings an historical perspective while citing their contemporary relevance of the work of legendary auto writers such as Ken Purdy, Jim Dunne or Jerry Flint, or writers such as Red Smith, Mark Twain, Thomas Jefferson – all to bring perspective to a chaotic automotive universe.
Above all, decades after he first drove a car, Zino still revels in the sound of the exhaust as the throttle is blipped during a downshift and the driver’s rush that occurs when the entry, apex and exit points of a turn are smoothly and swiftly crossed. It’s the beginning of a perfect lap.
AutoInformed has an editorial philosophy that loves transportation machines of all kinds while promoting critical thinking about the future use of cars and trucks.
Zino builds AutoInformed from his background in automotive journalism starting at Hearst Publishing in New York City on Motor and MotorTech Magazines and car testing where he reviewed hundreds of vehicles in his decade-long stint as the Detroit Bureau Chief of Road & Track magazine. Zino has also worked in Europe, and Asia – now the largest automotive market in the world with China at its center.
