By Eric J. Savitz, editor-in-chief, GM News
By Eric J. Savitz, editor-in-chief, GM News
Jaclyn McQuaid has held 14 different jobs over the course of her 26-year General Motors career – from noise and vibration development engineer to relaunching new markets as president of GM Europe. A Metro Detroit native with a pair of mechanical engineering degrees from the University of Michigan, she has become one of GM’s foremost experts on trucks. And now she’s bringing that knowledge to one of the auto industry’s best gigs for a truck lover – running GMC, along with the storied Buick franchise.
GM News sat down for a chat with McQuaid, about her winding GM career and her latest role. She also told us about her favorite vehicles…which, of course, are trucks.
Q: Jaclyn, how did you end up in the automotive business?
A: Let’s rewind to when I was a kid. I was always mechanically inclined. When the vacuum cleaner would break, my dad would tell my mom, “Don’t fix it, let's see what Jaclyn can do with that.” I always just wanted to understand how things worked.
Q: Did your dad work in the business?
A: No, although my dad wanted to be an automotive engineer. As a young child, he immigrated to the U.S. from Iraq; he wanted to be the first of his family to go to college, and he did so briefly. But after one semester, he was drafted and served in Vietnam. When he got back, he went into the family business, running convenience stores.
Q: That must have been a hard call.
A: He always regretted it and talked about it so many times throughout my childhood. So, when he saw me express interest in mechanics, he strongly encouraged it. I was one of four daughters, and he proudly supported all our dreams.
Caption: GM's Jaclyn McQuaid with a 2026 GMC Sierra EV Elevation
First ride, first job
Q: You knew you wanted to work for a car company. And not just any car company.
A: When you grow up in Detroit, the auto industry is a natural place to land. We always drove GM vehicles - I learned how to drive in a 1984 GMC Suburban [the Suburban now falls under the Chevrolet portfolio]. General Motors was the only place I applied to. Luckily, GM wanted me as much as I wanted them.
Q: What was your first role?
A: I started as a summer intern in 1998 in paint engineering. I worked at the Warren Technical Center but also spent time at the paint shop in Detroit/Hamtramck Assembly, now Factory Zero where we build our HUMMER EV and Sierra EV.
I came back the following summer to the Milford Proving Ground in a dream job supporting road load data acquisition. You instrument vehicles with transducers, take them over test roads, and collect data to understand how the vehicle is responding. How is it twisting? What torsion load is it seeing? How are the tires and wheels going over jumps and what loads are transmitting through the frame?
Q: Did you imagine yourself as a leader at GM?
A: I didn’t have a big vision when I first joined and didn’t fully understand what options were available. I came from an immigrant family with no connections in the automotive world. I was just having a whole lot of fun doing engineering.
Q: What else did you get to do?
A: After data acquisition, I worked at Milford in vehicle dynamics and then noise and vibration. Then I came to Warren as a design release engineer. I ran the tire-wheel systems lab, then shifted to engineering group manager in brakes. I was getting to do all these very technical engineering roles.
At that point, I had a mentor who was the executive director of chassis engineering. He told me I was too confident in myself as an engineer, that I was too convinced of my own rightness. He knew I had higher aspirations and wanted to throw me into a role where I knew absolutely nothing. He and another leader took a risk on me and I joined the global purchasing and supply chain organization.
Q: How did it go?
A: Initially, it was scary. I was made a purchasing manager for seats. I knew nothing about purchasing, and even less about seats, and it was intimidating. But it forced me to change my leadership style and gave me a chance to do something completely out of my comfort zone.
That role really inspired the love I have of being uncomfortable and figuring it all out. You don’t grow when you already know the answer – you grow when you’re solving a challenge.
Caption: Jaclyn McQuaid, VP, Global VP, Buick-GMC
Across the pond
Q: Let’s fast forward to 2022, when you became president of GM Europe.
A: Remember I mentioned that my mentor colluded with another senior leader to get me a role in purchasing? Well, that was Shilpan Amin, who has been running GM International, and recently became global head of purchasing and procurement. He called me about Europe and said, “Would you be interested in running a startup inside GM, to take a blank sheet of paper and imagine how GM could re-enter the continent? And, by the way, you’ll live in Zurich.”
My background was in engineering, purchasing, and product development, not running a global region. But it was too good to pass up.
The whole point of our re-entry into the European market was to do things differently. Shilpan knew me as someone who can figure things out – and as someone who wouldn’t say, “Well, that’s how we’ve always done things.”
I spent almost two years with that amazing team, creating the strategy for our re-entry with an all-electric portfolio and Cadillac as the founding brand.
And then I got the call to take this role running Buick and GMC.
Back to trucks
Q: And just like that, you were back in the truck business.
A: I spent most of my career on trucks, including those early engineering roles. I worked as chief engineer for heavy duty pickup trucks, executive chief for mid-sized trucks, and executive chief for full-sized trucks. I’m familiar with the customer base, the GMC brand and what it means in the market.
Q: How do you think about GMC’s market position?
GMC is a brand that tells customers you can do work with our products, but they are premium vehicles. It straddles work and personal use in a way that I don’t think any other brand does and loyalty to GMC is very strong as a result.
Q: How does HUMMER EV fit into the GMC family?
A: The HUMMER EV fits in really well at GMC – it is the super truck. It sits alongside the Sierra EV, which is a true pickup truck that just happens to have electric propulsion. You can take the HUMMER EV off-roading in the most extreme conditions, and it offers Crab Walk, [KG1] too. It says, “I can do anything. But does it with electric propulsion.
Q: Who is buying EV trucks? How much overlap is there between truck and EV buyers?
A: The overlap is growing. Truck buyers use their trucks for work – and some buyers have questions about range with towing, and other things. Truck buyers can quote every spec for their vehicles – horsepower, toque, towing and payload capacity. What we’ve been seeing is that once they give our EV trucks a chance and experience them, they say that their next vehicle will absolutely be an EV.
The new Buick
Q: Let’s shift to Buick, tell me about that brand.
A: Buick was the one brand I had never experienced in my GM career until I started this job. I spent a lot of time with Chevy and GMC because of my truck background. I also spent a lot of time with Cadillac – Escalade is part of the truck world, and then I spent two years getting ready to launch Cadillac in Europe. Buick was a brand I had to dig in and learn.
Q: The story has changed in the last couple of years.
A: Buick has reinvented itself, with new styling, modernization, and our “Exceptional by design” tagline. We’ve had 9 straight quarters of year-over-year growth[KG2] . The Buick Envista is the number one ICE conquest product at GM, bringing in new customers at a very high rate. [KG3]
The new design of our fully refreshed lineup is bringing in new customers. Envista’s average customer is 7 years younger than the broader universe of Buick owners. And once you’re a Buick buyer, you love Buick. Customers have passion for the brand.
Q: It’s not just the brand that’s been refreshed – the lineup has turned over as well.
A: That’s right. All four Buick nameplates – Envista, Encore GX, Envision, and Enclave – have been refreshed over the past 18 months. This will be the first calendar year where all four will be here for an entire year – some were introduced in 2024.
Buick’s rich history
Q: Buick had a moment in the spotlight recently when the 1987 Buick GNX was on stage at halftime during a certain widely watched football game. We eventually wrote a story about the GNX for GM News[MS4] . Soon after that, we did another story about the 1986 Buick Riviera, which had a touch-screen display that was decades ahead of its time. And what became apparent from those stories is that there remains deep love and affection for the Buick brand.
A: These vehicles are so interwoven into the fabric of our lives. I think about the rich history of Buick, and the experiences Americans have had over the years with that brand. What's so wonderful about Buick and GMC is that our vehicles bring you all the innovation and all the technology, but you don't lose that nostalgia. You can get in a Buick today and still feel that love from the memories of your past.
Q: Finally, what are you driving right now? And which car is your all-time favorite?
A: I’ve been driving the 2026 Sierra EV AT4, which we just revealed and will be available for orders in a few weeks. I love the AT4 trim, it has always been a favorite of mine, with a rich off-road persona and capability. I always gravitate to that. In terms of my favorite, that’s a tough one. I’ve had the honor of working with all four of our brands and love all of them. But I’m a truck driver at heart. So, I would say there is a special place I my heart for our full-size truck portfolio, including our full-size SUVs, like Yukon XL.
Q: Jaclyn, thanks so much for doing this. And keep on truckin’.
Eric J. Savitz is editor-in-chief at GM News. He previously worked as a journalist for Barron’s, Forbes, Smart Money and The Industry Standard. Contact: news@gm.com
Crabwalk limited to low speeds. Read the vehicle Owner’s Manual for important feature limitations and information.
Jaclyn McQuaid has held 14 different jobs over the course of her 26-year General Motors career – from noise and vibration development engineer to relaunching new markets as president of GM Europe. A Metro Detroit native with a pair of mechanical engineering degrees from the University of Michigan, she has become one of GM’s foremost experts on trucks. And now she’s bringing that knowledge to one of the auto industry’s best gigs for a truck lover – running GMC, along with the storied Buick franchise.
GM News sat down for a chat with McQuaid, about her winding GM career and her latest role. She also told us about her favorite vehicles…which, of course, are trucks.
Q: Jaclyn, how did you end up in the automotive business?
A: Let’s rewind to when I was a kid. I was always mechanically inclined. When the vacuum cleaner would break, my dad would tell my mom, “Don’t fix it, let's see what Jaclyn can do with that.” I always just wanted to understand how things worked.
Q: Did your dad work in the business?
A: No, although my dad wanted to be an automotive engineer. As a young child, he immigrated to the U.S. from Iraq; he wanted to be the first of his family to go to college, and he did so briefly. But after one semester, he was drafted and served in Vietnam. When he got back, he went into the family business, running convenience stores.
Q: That must have been a hard call.
A: He always regretted it and talked about it so many times throughout my childhood. So, when he saw me express interest in mechanics, he strongly encouraged it. I was one of four daughters, and he proudly supported all our dreams.
First ride, first job
Q: You knew you wanted to work for a car company. And not just any car company.
A: When you grow up in Detroit, the auto industry is a natural place to land. We always drove GM vehicles - I learned how to drive in a 1984 GMC Suburban [the Suburban now falls under the Chevrolet portfolio]. General Motors was the only place I applied to. Luckily, GM wanted me as much as I wanted them.
Q: What was your first role?
A: I started as a summer intern in 1998 in paint engineering. I worked at the Warren Technical Center but also spent time at the paint shop in Detroit/Hamtramck Assembly, now Factory Zero where we build our HUMMER EV and Sierra EV.
I came back the following summer to the Milford Proving Ground in a dream job supporting road load data acquisition. You instrument vehicles with transducers, take them over test roads, and collect data to understand how the vehicle is responding. How is it twisting? What torsion load is it seeing? How are the tires and wheels going over jumps and what loads are transmitting through the frame?
Q: Did you imagine yourself as a leader at GM?
A: I didn’t have a big vision when I first joined and didn’t fully understand what options were available. I came from an immigrant family with no connections in the automotive world. I was just having a whole lot of fun doing engineering.
Q: What else did you get to do?
A: After data acquisition, I worked at Milford in vehicle dynamics and then noise and vibration. Then I came to Warren as a design release engineer. I ran the tire-wheel systems lab, then shifted to engineering group manager in brakes. I was getting to do all these very technical engineering roles.
At that point, I had a mentor who was the executive director of chassis engineering. He told me I was too confident in myself as an engineer, that I was too convinced of my own rightness. He knew I had higher aspirations and wanted to throw me into a role where I knew absolutely nothing. He and another leader took a risk on me and I joined the global purchasing and supply chain organization.
Q: How did it go?
A: Initially, it was scary. I was made a purchasing manager for seats. I knew nothing about purchasing, and even less about seats, and it was intimidating. But it forced me to change my leadership style and gave me a chance to do something completely out of my comfort zone.
That role really inspired the love I have of being uncomfortable and figuring it all out. You don’t grow when you already know the answer – you grow when you’re solving a challenge.
Across the pond
Q: Let’s fast forward to 2022, when you became president of GM Europe.
A: Remember I mentioned that my mentor colluded with another senior leader to get me a role in purchasing? Well, that was Shilpan Amin, who has been running GM International, and recently became global head of purchasing and procurement. He called me about Europe and said, “Would you be interested in running a startup inside GM, to take a blank sheet of paper and imagine how GM could re-enter the continent? And, by the way, you’ll live in Zurich.”
My background was in engineering, purchasing, and product development, not running a global region. But it was too good to pass up.
The whole point of our re-entry into the European market was to do things differently. Shilpan knew me as someone who can figure things out – and as someone who wouldn’t say, “Well, that’s how we’ve always done things.”
I spent almost two years with that amazing team, creating the strategy for our re-entry with an all-electric portfolio and Cadillac as the founding brand.
And then I got the call to take this role running Buick and GMC.
Back to trucks
Q: And just like that, you were back in the truck business.
A: I spent most of my career on trucks, including those early engineering roles. I worked as chief engineer for heavy duty pickup trucks, executive chief for mid-sized trucks, and executive chief for full-sized trucks. I’m familiar with the customer base, the GMC brand and what it means in the market.
Q: How do you think about GMC’s market position?
GMC is a brand that tells customers you can do work with our products, but they are premium vehicles. It straddles work and personal use in a way that I don’t think any other brand does and loyalty to GMC is very strong as a result.
Q: How does HUMMER EV fit into the GMC family?
A: The HUMMER EV fits in really well at GMC – it is the super truck. It sits alongside the Sierra EV, which is a true pickup truck that just happens to have electric propulsion. You can take the HUMMER EV off-roading in the most extreme conditions, and it offers Crab Walk, too. It says, “I can do anything. But does it with electric propulsion.
Q: Who is buying EV trucks? How much overlap is there between truck and EV buyers?
A: The overlap is growing. Truck buyers use their trucks for work – and some buyers have questions about range with towing, and other things. Truck buyers can quote every spec for their vehicles – horsepower, toque, towing and payload capacity. What we’ve been seeing is that once they give our EV trucks a chance and experience them, they say that their next vehicle will absolutely be an EV.
The new Buick
Q: Let’s shift to Buick, tell me about that brand.
A: Buick was the one brand I had never experienced in my GM career until I started this job. I spent a lot of time with Chevy and GMC because of my truck background. I also spent a lot of time with Cadillac – Escalade is part of the truck world, and then I spent two years getting ready to launch Cadillac in Europe. Buick was a brand I had to dig in and learn.
Q: The story has changed in the last couple of years.
A: Buick has reinvented itself, with new styling, modernization, and our “Exceptional by design” tagline. We’ve had 9 straight quarters of year-over-year growth. The Buick Envista is the number one ICE conquest product at GM, bringing in new customers at a very high rate.
The new design of our fully refreshed lineup is bringing in new customers. Envista’s average customer is 7 years younger than the broader universe of Buick owners. And once you’re a Buick buyer, you love Buick. Customers have passion for the brand.
Q: It’s not just the brand that’s been refreshed – the lineup has turned over as well.
A: That’s right. All four Buick nameplates – Envista, Encore GX, Envision, and Enclave – have been refreshed over the past 18 months. This will be the first calendar year where all four will be here for an entire year – some were introduced in 2024.
Buick’s rich history
Q: Buick had a moment in the spotlight recently when the 1987 Buick GNX was on stage at halftime during a certain widely watched football game. We eventually wrote a story about the GNX for GM News. Soon after that, we did another story about the 1986 Buick Riviera, which had a touch-screen display that was decades ahead of its time. And what became apparent from those stories is that there remains deep love and affection for the Buick brand.
A: These vehicles are so interwoven into the fabric of our lives. I think about the rich history of Buick, and the experiences Americans have had over the years with that brand. What's so wonderful about Buick and GMC is that our vehicles bring you all the innovation and all the technology, but you don't lose that nostalgia. You can get in a Buick today and still feel that love from the memories of your past.
Q: Finally, what are you driving right now? And which car is your all-time favorite?
A: I’ve been driving the 2026 Sierra EV AT4, which we just revealed and will be available for orders in a few weeks. I love the AT4 trim, it has always been a favorite of mine, with a rich off-road persona and capability. I always gravitate to that. In terms of my favorite, that’s a tough one. I’ve had the honor of working with all four of our brands and love all of them. But I’m a truck driver at heart. So, I would say there is a special place I my heart for our full-size truck portfolio, including our full-size SUVs, like Yukon XL.
Q: Jaclyn, thanks so much for doing this. And keep on truckin’.
Eric J. Savitz is editor-in-chief at GM News. He previously worked as a journalist for Barron’s, Forbes, Smart Money and The Industry Standard. Contact: news@gm.com
Crabwalk limited to low speeds. Read the vehicle Owner’s Manual for important feature limitations and information.