Mary Barra M.B.A. ’90 was unanimously named the next CEO for General Motors. She is the first woman to hold such a high position in the auto company.

Since 2011 Barra has served as General Motors’ Senior Vice President of global product development after 33 years of holding various leadership positions within human resources, manufacturing engineering and internal communications. Barra received a General Motors fellowship to attend Stanford’s Graduate School of Business in 1988 and was a co-op student at the General Motors Institute technical school, now known as Kettering University. Barra’s ties to the company stretch even farther back since her father worked as a General Motors die maker for 39 years.

Barra now faces the task of pushing the auto company forward after it  declared bankruptcy four years ago and used a $49.5 billion government bailout to rise back up.

“This is truly the next chapter in G.M.’s recovery and turnaround history and I’m proud to be a part of it,” Barra said in a New York Times report regarding her new appointment.