Big break: Led a team that designed and built an in-house traction inverter

Hanaan Miller thrives with a blank slate.

In various roles at General Motors, Miller, now chief engineer of electric drive systems, has been tasked with developing the uncharted.

In 2014, Miller was asked to figure out a way to design and build traction inverters, critical components that drive electric vehicles’ motors, in-house. GM already had its own design for motors but not for the power electronics that go with them. 

“This was a real challenge because it was something we hadn’t done before at GM. There was no process to do this,” Miller said. “That’s one of the things that I thrive at. I am always thrown in these areas of ambiguity, trying to figure out how to make something of it.”

Miller faced doubters who said developing these components in-house would never work, but she and her team simplified and improved GM’s existing processes to develop a strategy of their own. 

“That was one of the key things that I led,” she said. “How do we take out all the red tape and just really use it for what we need?”

Her team delivered the traction inverters on time and at a high-quality level.

Miller has taken similar approaches in other assignments with GM.

During the global microchip shortage, she and her team have come up with ways to substitute low-volume parts without decreasing vehicle performance or reliability. Before that, she built a team to determine how to sell fuel cell systems to nontraditional customers. She and her team developed a power cube that can be mounted in a variety of locations for easy integration among various vehicle types, such as buses, Class 8 trucks and military vehicles. She also helped establish the foundation for the engineering of vehicles used by GM Defense and presented her ideas at the Pentagon.

Miller is focused on her electric drive systems role for now, but she’s open to exploring other areas of the automaker long term. 

“My goal is to learn as much as I can and to be the best I can be for GM. I want us to be the best of the best,” Miller said. “Wherever they need me next, I’ll go.”

— Hannah Lutz