The bill has come due for the twelve-year reign of errors of Mary Barra (pictured above) at General Motors, and it’s staggering: over $13 billion in strategic writedowns while she collected $29.5 million in compensation.
National Legal and Policy Center now calls for her immediate removal from both the CEO and Chair positions, calling her leadership breakdown “systematic” and “unprecedented” in a blistering new report being circulated to GM investors ahead of the company’s June 2 annual meeting.
The comprehensive analysis, available as a detailed PDF, doesn’t mince words: Barra’s tenure represents “strategic miscalculation, capital destruction, and leadership misjudgment that demands accountability.”
When Hubris Meets Reality
The poster child for Barra’s delusions of grandeur? Her electric vehicle catastrophe. In October 2021, she told CNBC she was “absolutely” convinced GM would crush Tesla by 2025. Instead, GM just absorbed $8.7 billion in EV-related charges as it abandons the very strategy she championed as GM’s “North Star.”
The market’s verdict was brutal and telling. GM’s stock soared not when Barra announced her grand EV plans, but when investors learned the company was retreating from them. Wall Street rewarded the abandonment of Barra’s vision, not its pursuit.
The Warning That Went Unheeded
Even more damning is how Barra dismissed NLPC’s prescient warnings about GM’s dangerous dependence on China. In 2023, NLPC presented a detailed “Communist China Risk Audit” proposal, specifically flagging GM’s risky partnership with Chinese state-owned SAIC Motor Corp. Barra’s board reflexively opposed it.
Less than eighteen months later, reality struck: GM absorbed over $5 billion in China-related losses—exactly the scenario NLPC had warned about. An independent Chair could have ensured these legitimate shareholder concerns received serious consideration instead of management’s dismissive brush-off.
Betraying Customer Trust for Profit
The depth of Barra’s leadership failures extends beyond strategic blunders to ethical lapses. Under her watch, GM systematically collected and sold customer driving data to insurance companies, often causing customers’ rates to increase. The Federal Trade Commission found GM used “misleading enrollment processes” and slapped the company with an extraordinary five-year ban on data sales.
When customers tried to opt out, OnStar representatives told them cancellation was impossible: “Even if you turn it off, we can still track you.” This isn’t customer service—it’s corporate surveillance for profit.
Shareholders Fight Back
The evidence of shareholder revolt is mounting. GM’s 2024 Say-on-Pay vote received just 58% support—a result the Board itself called “disappointing.” Translation: more than 40% of shareholders explicitly rejected Barra’s compensation package despite her presiding over massive strategic losses.
From the ignition switch scandal that killed 124 people to Cruise’s robotaxi disaster that dragged a pedestrian 20 feet, Barra’s capability to explain GM’s safety record drew harsh congressional rebuke. Senator Barbara Boxer famously told her during testimony in 2014: “You don’t know anything about anything.”
The Path Forward
NLPC’s solution is straightforward: remove Barra from both positions and install an independent Chairman to oversee the search for competent leadership. The concentration of power in one person enabled these systematic governance failures by eliminating independent oversight when it was most needed.
Leading institutional investors increasingly support independent chair arrangements precisely because they provide objective strategic oversight and enhanced accountability—exactly what GM needs after $13 billion in strategic disasters.
Time to Act
GM shareholders don’t need to wait for the June 2 annual meeting to demand accountability. They can vote right now at www.proxyvote.com (you will need a control number or your account number). Vote FOR Item 6 (the independent Chair proposal) and AGAINST Mary Barra’s re-election.
After twelve years of broken promises, ignored warnings, and systematic value destruction, the time for half-measures is over. GM shareholders deserve both accountability and independent oversight. They deserve better than the leadership they’ve received over the last dozen years.
(Post references PX14A6G Notice of exempt solicitation)
