Automotive giant General Motors announced the appointment of Cassandra Garber as its new Chief Sustainability Officer. Garber joins GM after serving as CSO for technology giant Dell. The new appointment follows the retirement in November 2024 of GM’s former CSO Kristen Siemen after 30 years with the company.

In her new role, Garber will oversee GM’s commitment to responsible business practices and environmental and social impact. GM has set a series of sustainability commitments over the past few years, including goals to become carbon neutral in global products and operations by 2040, and to reach 100% renewable energy for its U.S. sites by the end of 2025, and globally by 2035. The company has also invested heavily in the transition to electric vehicles following its 2021 pledge to eliminate tailpipe emissions from new light-duty vehicles by 2035, although the industry’s EV shift has hit headwinds in recent months on slower than anticipated consumer uptake and a less supportive regulatory landscape.

In a Linkedin post announcing her new appointment, “trading keyboards for dashboards,” Garber said:

“I grew up with cars. My grandfather owned a radiator shop in our small town of Huntingburg, Indiana. Every chance he got, my dad would take us to car dealerships just to look around. He sold cars for awhile. My husband was a service advisor (and a dang good one). If you know my family at all, you know we love epic road trips with our three kids and two dogs – these very adventures have led us to refer to our 2021 GMC Yukon XL as our living room on wheels. (Stay tuned for an epic family road trip in an all-electric Cadillac Escalade IQ soon!)… As luck would have it, my first day at GM is Earth Day. Sure feels like it was meant to be.”

Garber joined Dell’s sustainability team in 2021, taking on the Chief Sustainability Officer role last year. Prior to joining Dell, she served in a series of sustainability roles at companies including McKesson, 3M and The Coca-Cola Company.

Garber added:

“If there’s one thing I’ve learned during my career, it’s that sustainable business is smart business. Reducing risk, seizing innovation and growth opportunity WHILE delivering real and meaningful impact is where it’s at. It’s hard, but when done, and done well, it’s transformative for both business and our world.”