GM names temporary head of global marketing as Deborah Wahl leaves job

General Motors has started an external search to replace Chief Marketing Officer Deborah Wahl, who will retire March 31 after serving nearly five years in the job.

Spokesman David Barnas told the Free Press on Thursday that GM has assigned a temporary replacement for Wahl.

“The Global Marketing Organization will report to Steve Carlisle while the external search is being conducted,” Barnas told the Free Press.

Carlisle is currently GM’s president of North America, a job he will continue to do while also taking on global marketing duties.

GM’s marketing is crucial this year because the automaker will roll out its volume EVs, which include: the Chevy Silverado pickup, and the Chevy Blazer and Equinox crossovers. Also coming is the GMC Hummer SUV EV, which started production at Factory Zero in Detroit and Hamtramck. Cadillac plans for the December launch of the more than $300,000 hand-built luxury EV Celestiq too. GM’s mid-luxury brand Buick, will reveal a new electric SUV for its lineup this year and it will come to market in 2024. It will be called Electra followed by a number.

More:She was asked to engineer Silverado EV and answered with 2 words

CEO Mary Barra said last month that this is a breakout year for GM as it completes its transformation to a technology company. As part of that, on Feb. 28, GM cut several hundred salaried workers jobs. GM told employees in a memo that the cuts were based on performance, saying the company needs to have a top-tier team to execute its transition to all EVs in the upcoming years.

GM also plans to cut $2 billion from its costs over the next two years, and these job cuts will be part of that cost reduction. On March 9, Barra told white-collar employees GM will offer a voluntary separation program to most U.S. salaried employees and global executives. The idea is to “accelerate attrition” to “avoid the potential for involuntary actions” in the future, Barra said in a companywide memo.

Despite the challenge of job losses and cost cuts, Barnas said, GM is well positioned to market its upcoming EVs this year. He noted GM’s partnership with Netflix to incorporate GM’s new EVs in certain shows as an example of GM’s marketing being teed up.

“We had an exciting start to the year with the announcement of our alliance with Netflix and a Super Bowl spot featuring some of our growing EV portfolio,” Barnas said. “Our Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac brands are well poised to continue connecting with customers to build on this momentum in 2023 and beyond.”