Jim Brady got his first taste of the auto industry in the late 1990s as a Cadillac intern while attending Western Michigan University. He liked it.
In 2000, Brady signed on as a General Motors employee, working in sales and service positions in the field. That’s where he discovered his passion. The Detroit-area native was intrigued by the auto retail experience.
“I never was someone who was going to actually pop the hood and dive into it,” he said. “Mine was more understanding the brands and the marketing side of it — the continuous changeover of vehicles and offerings really always intrigued me.”
Today, Brady is director of GM’s global customer experience strategy and enterprise experiences. That means he oversees two key areas for the company’s global connected customer experience team — a focus of CEO Mary Barra.
Brady’s group is responsible for the customer experience strategy — from buyers’ online research to dealership experience and the post-purchase relationship. The team also oversees development and execution of such key initiatives as global onboarding, global customer satisfaction surveys and global social media.
Brady said, “I’ve been privileged in my career to spend half of it in the field working hand in hand with the dealers and half of it with business operations and strategy in Detroit.”
-- Michael Wayland
