14th Annual Michael Korybalski Distinguished Lecture: Marissa West

Abstract:

Having a lifelong passion for the automotive industry and an aptitude for math and science naturally drew me to an engineering degree. Upon completion of my Mechanical Engineering undergraduate work, I started my career at General Motors in vehicle performance. Shortly after, I earned my master’s degree in mechanical engineering while working full-time at GM. I found great challenge and satisfaction in my career as an engineer, but I also saw significant potential for growth and transferability of my skills to all facets of the business. As my career evolved, I had countless opportunities to learn, innovate, and grow cross-functionally.

The courage to reach outside of my comfort zone personallyand professionally has led to success beyond what I imagined when I entered the engineering field. A huge part of who I am is a mother of four and a partner to my husband. My family is not peripheral to my success but integrated within my career trajectory and I will speak about the benefits of diversity and the significance of purpose.

My intent in this lecture isto convey how I built a career predicated on a passion for the product andthe company, underpinned by a strong technical education. I will present a thesis that the combination of my formal training, career experience, appreciation for diversity, and courage are the foundation of my success. Iwill offer evidence through challenging assignments, career experience, and personal elements, and will strengthen the case by describing how I have developed strategic priorities in my current role as President and Managing Director of GM Canada to lead the transformation of the Canadian automotive industry.

Bio:

Marissa West leads GM Canada at a pivotal time, as the automotive industry shifts to electrification. In this role, Marissa’s focus is supporting customers, dealers, and employees as GM prepares for an all-electric future. Among Marissa’s key priorities are leveraging GM’s Canadian Technical Centre as a hotbed of innovation, and continuing to improve gender equity, diversity, and accessibility in the workplace and in GM’s vehicles.

In the 20 years, she’s worked at GM, Marissa has held a variety of engineering roles in multiple departments. Marissa was the Executive Chief Engineer for GM’s Global Mid-Size Truck and Medium-Duty Truck programs and the Chief Engineer for the NextGeneration Full-Size Truck programs before that. In that earlier role, her team launched the 2020 GMC Sierra HD and the Chevrolet Silverado HD and was responsible for leading other full-size truck programs representing US$1.6 billion in investment and more than 1.4 million vehicles produced annually.

Before becoming Chief Engineer, Marissa led the Global Noise and Vibration Center and later orchestrated and led the merger of two distinct GM engineering centres into one agile, efficient organization. To support GM’s vision of accessible transportation, Marissa formed GM’s Accessibility Center of Excellence, which works across the entire organization usingtechnology and innovation to unlock barriers to mobility.
As the Chief of Staff to the Executive Vice-President of Global Product Development, Purchasing, and Supply Chain, Marissa was instrumental in coordinating product processes from start to finish and working cross-functionally to deliver enterprise-wide results.

Beyond her engineering work, Marissa is passionate about encouraging girls and underrepresented minorities to pursue education and careers in STEM, and in 2018 she was nominated for a Society of Women Engineers (SWE) award for “Advocating in Women in Engineering”.
She holds a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Michigan and a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Michigan State University, which included engineering studies at RWTH Aachen University in Germany. Additionally, she has completed Positive Leadership and Design Thinking executive training through the University of Michigan and the Transformational Leadership Executive Education Program at Stanford.

Marissa lives in Toronto with her husband Bob and their four children. ”