Dhivya Suryadevara, a 39-year-old Indian-American woman, in what is being regarded as a historic move, has been named the Chief Finance Officer (CFO) of USA’s largest automaker General Motors. She will be succeeding Chuck Stevens, officially taking over the position on September 1.

She has been the company’s vice president of corporate finance since July 2017. She will report to Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mary Barra, 56, who has been head of the automaker since 2014.

Her background includes a bachelor’s and master’s degrees in commerce from the University of Madras from Chennai. She was all of 22 when she moved to the US to pursue MBA from the prestigious Harvard University. She is a chartered financial analyst and accountant, and has worked at UBS and PricewaterhouseCoopers before joining the Detroit-based GM in 2005 at the age of 25.

More than anything, this move by GM makes them join other corporates that have women working as CEOs and CFOs.

I am proud to congratulate Dhivya Suryadevara on becoming CFO @GM. Dhivya’s experience and leadership well positions her to continue playing a key role in driving strong business results. https://t.co/FXvniGN5It

— Mary Barra (@mtbarra) June 13, 2018