Road to Power

Chapter 12 Chevy Cobalt: End of the Honeymoon

Suddenly Mary Barra was no longer just an auto industry up-and-comer. She was a household name—the first woman to run a global automaker. She stared out from magazine covers and television screens. Her modest demeanor and Michigander accent, her working-class family, her childhood infatuation with cars, and most of all her rise from plant worker to plant manager to CEO were chronicled in virtually every U.S. media outlet, and a good portion of those abroad. Everything from her shoe selections to her pay package was scrutinized.

The latter got attention because her pay was far below that of Dan Akerson, even though the U.S. Treasury's strict rules about pay that she had negotiated with Kenneth Feinberg about following the bankruptcy were no longer in force since the government had sold its shares. Barra's annual salary for 2014 is $1.6 million, and her short-term incentive pay could reach $2.8 million on top of that for a total of $4.4 million. Akerson was paid a total of $9 million in 2013.

The pay gap got attention because women in top corporate positions still make on average 18 percent less than men do, according to Bloomberg data.¹ The five most highly paid executives in the Standard & Poor's 500 companies make $5.3 million on average, the data show—about 20 percent more than Barra. Barra told reporters that she respected the board's decisions, and later said that she had never asked for a raise during her whole career. Besides, ...