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General Motors said Thursday that, for the first time in seven years, it has a chief marketing officer.
The auto manufacturer promoted Deborah Wahl to the head marketing role after about 18 months as Cadillac’s CMO. Wahl knows her way around Detroit, as she was Chrysler’s CMO from 2007-2009 after working her way up through marketing gigs at Lexus, Ford and Toyota. Prior to Cadillac, she was McDonald’s CMO.
The last GM CMO, Joel Ewanick, was supposedly fired in 2012 after the company’s then-CEO, Dan Akerson, laid the blame of Chevrolet’s $560 million sponsorship into soccer’s storied Manchester United club.
The move comes at a time when GM is looking to marry the role marketing plays in building brands with “ensuring more effective, efficient and agile customer engagement,” according to a memo GM’s CEO, Mary Barra, sent to employees announcing the promotion.
Wahl and GM were unavailable for comment at press time.
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