General Motors (GM) Hires Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO) Amid EV and Trump Tariff Challenges: 6 Things to Know

Automobile giant General Motors has hired Dell veteran Cassandra Garber as chief sustainability officer (CSO), she disclosed via LinkedIn. Garber arrives during a key time for GM, which is striving to balance traditional and electric vehicle (EV) car production while also navigating U.S. President Donald Trump's automobile tariffs.

Here are six things to know about GM's business and sustainability strategy, and Garber's career experience.

1. Business Scope and Scale: GM, founded in 1908, is based in Detroit, Michigan. The company, backed by 162,000 employees, produced roughly 6 million vehicles in 2024. Annual revenue was $187.4 billion in 2024, up from $171.8 billion in 2023.

2. Electric Vehicle (EV), Self-Driving and Tariff Challenges: GM has hit some business bumps amid an expansion from combustion engines to electric vehicles (EVs) and self-driving technology.

Among the business hurdles to note:

• July 2024: GM scaled back EV sales expectations for 2025, and backtracked from an all electric fleet goal by 2035.
• February 2025: Cruise, the self-driving robotaxi business owned by GM, cut roughly 50% of staff, TechCrunch reported. The remaining Cruise assets tucked into GM as the automaker "directs its resources toward improving its hands-free driver assistance system Super Cruise — and eventually rolls out personal autonomous vehicles."
• March 2025: U.S. President Donald Trump announced 25% tariffs on imported automobiles and associated auto parts, though Trump in April 2025 said he was exploring ways to provide relief to U.S. car makers.
• April 2025: GM temporarily halted production of its electric commercial van at its assembly plant in Canada due to slow sales, and temporarily laid off 1,200 workers at the plant, Reuters reported.

3. Sustainability Strategy: GM's sustainability vision involves a "world with zero crashes, zero
emissions and zero congestion," according to GM's 2023 Sustainability Report. Among the associated goals, the company is striving to:

• Reduce Scope 1 and Scope 2 GHG emissions from operations by 72% by 2035 against a 2018 baseline.
• Source100% renewable electricity globally by 2035.
• Reduce Scope 3 GHG emissions from the use of sold products by 51% per vehicle kilometer by 2035 against a 2018 baseline.

Among the wildcards: If GM has to adjust its supply chains to address or mitigate Trump's tariffs, how will that potentially impact GM's Scope 3 emissions? At this point, it's likely too soon to say.

4. Chief Sustainability Officer Transition: Dell veteran Cassandra Garber succeeded Kristen Siemen as GM's chief sustainability officer (CSO) as of April 2025. Siemen exited GM in November 2024, according to her LinkedIn profile.

5. Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO) Experience: Garber previously was CSO at Dell Technologies, the global supplier of PCs and data center hardware. In addition to an overall Net Zero strategy, Dell has expanded its channel partner program to include a sustainability and ESG competency.

Before becoming Dell's CSO, Garber was VP of sustainability and ESG at the company from 2021 through August 2024. Earlier in her career, she held key sustainability positions at McKesson, 3M, and The Coca-Cola Company.

6. Executive Perspectives: In a statement posted on LinkedIn, Garber on April 14, 2025 wrote: "Next week I start as the new chief sustainability officer at General Motors. After nearly four fantastic years at Dell Technologies, I’m now trading keyboards for dashboards. And I’m beyond thrilled."

She continued: "I grew up with cars. My grandfather owned a radiator shop in our small town of Huntingburg, Indiana. Every chance he got, my dad would take us to car dealerships just to look around. He sold cars for awhile. My husband was a service advisor (and a dang good one). If you know my family at all, you know we love epic road trips with our three kids and two dogs - these very adventures have led us to refer to our 2021 GMC Yukon XL as our living room on wheels. (Stay tuned for an epic family road trip in an all-electric Cadillac Escalade IQ soon!)

If there’s one thing I’ve learned during my career, it’s that sustainable business is smart business. Reducing risk, seizing innovation and growth opportunity WHILE delivering real and meaningful impact is where it’s at. It’s hard, but when done, and done well, it’s transformative for both business and our world.

Now I get the chance to help General Motors accelerate a zero-emissions future and drive circular-economy solutions that reduce costs and material waste. GM is helping advance the EV transition, adoption of renewable energy and much more. Thinking back to those days as a little girl walking the car lots with my family, this work truly feels like a dream!

As luck would have it, my first day at GM is Earth Day. Sure feels like it was meant to be."

Chief Sustainability Officers: Why Technology Partners Should Care

By 2027, 25% of Global 2000 companies will have assigned a chief sustainability officer (CSO) responsible for meeting their organization’s ESG goals and making ESG-related IT purchasing decisions, according to IDC.

The bottom line: Technology partners need to extend their sales, marketing, engagement and support strategies to successfully fulfill those CSO customer needs, Sustainable Tech Partner believes.