Key takeaways
- Cassandra Garber’s former employers include 3M, Coca-Cola and General Electric.
- She built the sustainability team from scratch at medical supply company McKesson.
- Garber was at Dell for four years, most recently as chief sustainability officer.
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Cassandra Garber is leaving her post as chief sustainability officer of computer firm Dell Technologies to take on the same role at automaker General Motors.
Garber’s first day at GM is Earth Day, April 22. She succeeds Kristin Siemen, who retired on Oct. 31, 2024 after a 30-year career with the company. One of Siemen’s top lieutenants, Kathi Walker, has been acting as interim CSO at GM.
Garber disclosed her decision to trade “keyboards for dashboards” in a post on LinkedIn that recalled hours spent visiting her grandfather’s radiator shop while growing up in Huntingburg, Indiana. In her new role, she’ll drive GM’s zero-emissions vehicle transition strategy and circular economy business practices that reduce waste across GM’s supply chain.
“If there’s one thing I’ve learned during my career, it’s that sustainable business is smart business,” Garber wrote on LinkedIn. “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.”
Garber is building on a strong foundation, although GM and other automakers face an uncertain future amid the Trump administration’s unpredictable trade tariff strategy.
GM managed to reduce tailpipe emissions 3 percent between 2018 and 2023. The company recently posted its best first-quarter sales since 2018, including a 94 percent increase in EV purchases.
Wide range of experience
Garber joined Dell in August 2021 to overhaul the company’s environmental, social and governance strategy — with the goal of embedding those metrics more deeply across the business.
“In just under four years we’ve reinvented the entire ESG organization, integrated it across the company, innovated in products and programs and processes, streamlined and prioritized our focus, had a meaningful impact in so many ways, and we’ve celebrated the amazing humans who made all this happen,” she said in another LinkedIn post.
Garber spent ten years at General Electric in communications and marketing roles before moving on to sustainability leadership roles focused on reporting and strategic initiatives at Coca-Cola Co. and 3M. She also built the sustainability team at medical supplier McKesson from scratch.
Dell did not respond to a request for comment about its plans to replace Garber.
