GM names Mary Barra as car industry's first woman CEO The selection of Barra, 51, to lead GM into the future marked the latest in a spate of appointments of woman chief executives to corporations long seen as dominated by men. Last year, the technology firm Yahoo named a woman as president and CEO. Also, women have been named in recent years to run defense contractors General Dynamics Corp. and Lockheed Martin as well as computer giants IBM and Hewlett-Packard. "I think it is fantastic, and it indicates the openness of even the most traditional corporations to look for leadership from all sources, including from women," said Marcia D. Greenberger, co-president of the National Women's Law Center, an advocacy group. I think it is particularly heartening to see a corporation like GM do that, not only because of the traditional image we have of the male CEO at car companies, but also because of its global reach. Despite the high-profile appointments and a record of educational achievement that decisively outpaces that of men, women overall haven't made much progress recently when it comes to rising into senior leadership roles in the nation's largest companies. Women hold just under 17 percent of the seats on boards of directors and fewer than 15 percent of senior executive positions in the nation's Fortune 500 companies, according to a new report from Catalyst, a firm that tracks the progress of women in corporate America. Overall, 23 women head the nation's 500 largest corporations, the firm said. Barra's promotion came one day after the federal government announced the sale of its final remaining shares in the iconic automaker, marking the end of the darkest chapter in the company's history. The investment by the federal government during the height of the financial crisis prevented GM from collapsing, and the company has emerged leaner and highly profitable in the years since. "With an amazing portfolio of cars and trucks and the strongest financial performance in our recent history, this is an exciting time at today's GM," Barra, a 33-year employee of the company, said in a statement. I'm honored to lead the best team in the business and to keep our momentum at full speed. Although GM is stronger than it has been in decades, Barra will face significant challenges when she takes over the company. The firm is losing money in Europe and its big bet on the Chevrolet Volt electric car has yet to pay off. But analysts called Barra well equipped to grapple with those issues. "Barra has spent her professional career in the car industry, and she has earned her stripes in a succession of manufacturing and engineering positions," said Jack R. Nerad, executive editorial director and an analyst at Kelly Blue Book. As the current product chief for General Motors, she has overseen the corporation's improvement in product quality and has benefited from the critical success of many new GM vehicles, including the Cadillac CTS and Chevrolet Impala.