General Motors Co. has hired Paul Jacobson as executive vice president and chief financial officer, effective December 1.
Jacobson has served as chief financial officer of Delta Air Lines Inc. since 2012, helping to transform the company into one of Fortune Magazine’s Top 50 Most Admired Companies for six consecutive years. He was named the airline industry’s best CFO eight times by Institutional Investor Magazine’s poll of Wall Street analysts and investors.
“Paul is a great addition to the GM senior leadership team and is dedicated to leading the company for the benefit of all stakeholders — customers, employees, suppliers, communities and shareholders,” said GM CEO Mary Barra. “We share a commitment to teamwork and inclusion as we work towards our vision of a future with zero crashes, zero emissions and zero congestion while delivering a best-in-class customer experience, operational and financial excellence and disciplines capital allocation.”
Jacobson graduated from Auburn University with a bachelor’s degree in aviation management and later received a master’s of business administration degree from Owen Graduate School of Management at Vanderbilt University. He currently serves on the board of trustees for the Auburn University Foundation, the Harbert College of Business Advisory Council at Auburn and the Owen Graduate School of Management Board of Visitors at Vanderbilt.
John Stapleton, GM acting CFO since August 31, will continue as North America chief financial officer, a position he has held since January 2014.
“I appreciate John’s leadership and willingness to take on two roles during our search for a new CFO,” Barra said. “John’s passion for operations allowed us to take full advantage of the market recovery in North America, and he has helped the entire company meet the global challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, execute aggressive plans to protect our finances, and drive strong launch and sales performance. With John once again fully focused on our opportunities in North America, I am very confident our momentum will continue.”
GM has several facilities in the South. It produces Corvettes at its Bowling Green, Kentucky plant and makes the GMC Acadia, Cadillac XT5 and XT6 at its Spring Hill, Tennessee plant. It also builds the Cadillac Escalade and Escalade ESV, Chevrolet Tahoe and Suburban and GMC Yukon and Yukon XL at its Arlington, Texas plant.
