GM CEO Mary Barra Ranks Among The Most Powerful Women In The World

DETROIT (WWJ/AP) - Detroit's own General Motors' leader makes the Forbes magazine list of the 100 most powerful women in the world.

GM CEO Mary Barra ranks seventh on Forbes ranking of the 100 of the world's most powerful women - she's the highest ranking business leader and is also featured on the cover of the Forbes issue reports Bruce Vale at the Wall Street Journal Network.

Barra comes in one spot behind Hillary Clinton, at number six, but one spot ahead of number eight, first lady Michelle Obama. The world's most powerful woman, according to Forbes; German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Barra accompanied Governor Rick Snyder and Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan Sunday as they made opening remarks at the Detroit Grand Prix on Belle Isle.

Barra came into the top spot at GM on the cusp of historic recalls and was forced to testify at a hearing by a House panel into the delayed response by GM in recalling 1.6 million small GM cars.

The latest  recall of 218,000 Chevrolet Aveo subcompact cars is the company's 29th this year, bringing the total number of recalled GM vehicles in the U.S. to around 13.8 million. That breaks GM's previous annual record of 10.75 million set in calendar year 2004.

It's the first time a woman has ever been named CEO of a car company.

Barra previously worked as GM's Executive Vice President of Global Product Development, 51-year-old Barra was responsible for keeping her foot on the pedal of the automaker's 11 global brands.

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