GM international unit hires sales exec Barnes from VW
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DETROIT -- General Motors today hired veteran sales executive Mark Barnes away from Volkswagen and installed him as GM's top sales executive in charge of China and other overseas markets.
Barnes, 52, was named vice president of sales, marketing and aftersales for GM's international operations, which includes China, Australia, India, the Middle East and other countries.
It's is the automaker's No. 2 division in both sales and profits behind North America. During the first quarter, the international operation accounted for 16 percent of GM's $37.8 billion in sales and nearly a quarter of its $2.2 billion pretax profit.
Barnes had been Volkswagen of America's first vice president of customer experience. He has also worked as VW's COO, director of Chrysler's U.S. western region business center, and vice president of national sales at Hyundai North America.
Barnes' LinkedIn profile shows that he worked at Hyundai from 2001 to 2005. Chris Perry, GM's vice president for Chevrolet global marketing, also worked at Hyundai at the time.
Barnes will report to Tim Lee, president of GM's international operations.
Lee, in a statement today, said: "Mark is an automotive industry veteran with more than 30 years of experience. He has broad industry experience and we are fortunate to have him joining our GMIO team."
VW said in a statement that Rawdon Glover, executive vice president of group after sales, will perform Barnes' duties while the company looks for a new vice president.
Barnes succeeds GM's Susan Docherty, who became managing director of Chevrolet Europe in January. He will be based in Shanghai, at the headquarters of the company's international operations, according to the release. He will join GM on May 15.
Mike Colias and Christina Rogers contributed to this report.
You can reach Adam Rubenfire at arubenfire@crain.com.
