DETROIT — As a senior purchasing executive at General Motors, Kim Brycz helped lead a cultural transformation in the department that boosted the automaker's standing with suppliers.
Now the 35-year GM veteran will be called on to drive that kind of change companywide as GM staffs up for a new automotive era dominated by rapid technology development and alternative business models.
Brycz — who interned at GM after her freshman year at Michigan State University and returned after graduation — was named head of global human resources last week, succeeding Jose Tomas, who resigned last month after just eight months in his position.
The HR position, once held by CEO Mary Barra, puts Brycz, 56, in a critical role for an organization that's trying to balance its industrial heft and heritage with a Silicon Valley-style agility, while nurturing a new generation of innovators to stay competitive on such frontiers as autonomous driving, electrification and mobility services.
"I think with Kim in that position, they really are going to be able to leapfrog into what Mary is hoping to achieve," said John Henke, president of supplier relations consultancy Planning Perspectives, whose an annual survey of supplier salespeople has shown rapid improvements in attitudes toward GM.
Henke said he believes Barra is looking for Brycz to "do the same thing with personnel that she did with the suppliers."
Brycz declined requests for an interview last week. Her appointment is effective immediately, and GM expects to name a replacement in purchasing in the "near future," a spokesman said.
Brycz's long GM career started in the Cadillac Motor Car Division, where she was an assistant buyer for indirect material, supporting the sales and marketing departments.
"I thought that was the coolest thing on earth," she recounted in an interview with Automotive News in 2015. "Going to work for the luxury standard of the world at that time is what intrigued me."
She recalled her big break being a promotion to executive director leading the interior purchasing group, after 15 years in buyer roles. "Interior was my dream job," she said in the 2015 interview. "I wasn't sure I was ready for it. I told my boss at the time, Bo Andersson, that I didn't know if I was ready to do this big job. He said: 'You're ready.' So, I said, 'OK, we're going to do this,' and it really did open up a lot of opportunities."
During GM's bankruptcy in 2009, in what she considered one of the "most challenging" tasks of her career, Brycz stepped up as for six weeks after
She was named head of global purchasing for electrical systems, batteries and hybrids in 2010, and later that year, was tasked with overseeing GM's purchases of indirect materials, machinery and equipment. She has been executive director of global product purchasing since 2013.
"The considerable improvements in supplier relations in General Motors over the last several years has been due to Kim's efforts," said Henke, citing her role in revamping supplier contract terms to expedite innovations and forming strategic partnerships in GM's supply base. "She has certainly led the charge in that area."
In 2010 and 2015, Automotive News named Brycz one of the in the North American Auto Industry.
Her tenure as a leader in purchasing has coincided with the elevation of many women to senior executive positions at GM, most notably Barra, who was head of HR for two years after GM's bankruptcy before going on to lead global product development.
As for attracting more women to the industry, Brycz said in 2015 that there's still a "little bit of a gap" that the industry needs to correct, but "I see huge improvements since I first joined General Motors 30 years ago," she said. "It's crazy different."
She said the key to recruiting more women is to spread awareness of the opportunities in the auto business, especially in places outside the Midwest where the industry isn't well understood.
"Mary Barra has spoken about many of the new technologies we'll be coming out with," she said. "I really do think the women in college today would find that fascinating and exciting."
