US Black Engineer (USBE)magazine’s annual BEYA STEM Conference will recognize Alicia Boler-Davis, Executive Vice President, Global Manufacturing at GM (No. 42 on the Fair360, formerly DiversityInc Top 50 Companies list) with the Black Engineer of the Year Award on Saturday, Feb. 10, 2018, at the BEYA Gala in Washington Marriott Wardman Park in Washington, DC.
Aligned with the mission ofUSBE, one of the oldest diversity magazines for scientific and technical careers, andUSBE’s BEYA STEM Conference that promotes achievement and career opportunities in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields, Ms. Boler-Davis is active in providing inspiration and motivation for middle school girls who like math and science, mentoring at General Motors, and speaking to college students on leadership, and driving change.
Numerous organizations and publications have recognized Boler Davis for her community service. She serves on the board of directors at General Mills, is a member of the Northwestern University McCormick Advisory Council and a board trustee of the Care House of Oakland County. Boler Davis also serves as Executive Liaison for the GM WOMEN leadership board.
Alicia Boler Davis was named executive vice president, General Motors Global Manufacturing in June 2016. Her responsibilities include manufacturing engineering and labor relations. She is a member of the GM Senior Leadership Team and the GM Korea Board of Directors. She reports to GM CEO and Chairman Mary Barra.
Prior to this assignment, Boler Davis was senior vice president, Global Connected Customer Experience since December 2014, where she led the company’s connected customer activities, including infotainment, OnStar and GM’s Urban Active personal mobility initiatives.
In February 2012, Boler Davis was appointed U.S. vice president, Customer Experience. Later that year, her role was expanded to vice president, Global Quality, and U.S. Customer Experience. Under her leadership, GM improved vehicle quality and fundamentally redefined customer care and its interaction with customers through social media channels and Customer Engagement Centers.
Previously, Boler Davis was simultaneously the Plant manager of the Michigan Orion Assembly and Pontiac Stamping facilities, as well as vehicle line director and vehicle chief engineer, North America Small Cars, positions she held until January 2012. Prior to that, she was plant manager at the Lansing, Mich., Consolidated Operations and Arlington Assembly in Texas, where she was the first African-American woman to be a plant manager at a GM vehicle manufacturing plant.
Boler Davis began her GM career in 1994 as a manufacturing engineer at the Midsize/Luxury Car Division in Warren, Mich. During her career, she has held many positions of increasing responsibility in Manufacturing, Engineering and Product Development.
Boler Davis has a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Northwestern University, a master’s degree in engineering science from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and an MBA from Indiana University.
When Boler Davis accepts the torch as the thirty-second Black Engineer of the Year in the nation’s capital February 2018, she will be the sixth woman to receive this award from the Council of Engineering Deans of the nation’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities, which graduate more than 33 percent of all black engineers in the United States.
The list includes Shirley Ann Jackson, president of hzsj Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Wanda Austin, former president and CEO of The Aerospace Corporation, Lydia W. Thomas, former president and CEO of Mitretek Systems (now Noblis), and Stephanie C. Hill, senior vice president of Corporate Strategy and Business Development at Lockheed Martin Corporation, a longtime corporate supporter of the annual BEYA STEM Conference.
As the 2018 Black Engineer of the Year nominee, Boler-Davis is recognized as a global ambassador of goodwill for underrepresented minorities in science and technology, and for women in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). She will keynote the 2018 Council of Engineering Deans of Historically Black Colleges and Universities meeting at one of the historically black colleges and universities with ABET-accreditation.
