From Dell to General Motors: Meet CSO Cassandra Garber

Motoring giant General Motors is welcoming a new Chief Sustainability Officer – and she is certainly not new to sustainability leadership.

Cassandra Garber takes up the role at the US-based automotive company on 22 April 2025 having announced her departure from Dell on 10 April. 

“Next week I start as the new Chief Sustainability Officer at General Motors,” Cassandra shared on Linkedin. 

“After nearly four fantastic years at Dell Technologies, I’m now trading keyboards for dashboards. And I’m beyond thrilled.”

Meet Cassandra Garber

Cassandra has worked in sustainability and communications at some of the world’s largest and most influential companies for the past two decades – GE, GE Energy, The Coca-Cola Company, 3M and McKesson.

She joins GM from Dell, where she has spent the last ten months driving sustainability and ESG as Chief Sustainability Officer at the tech giant.

“Sometimes in life we all reach a fork in the road, a moment where a big decision must be made,” she said in a LinkedIn post, announcing her departure from Dell after nearly four years.

“Where your current path has so much goodness, but a new adventure appears and just feels right.

“In just under four years, we’ve reinvented the entire ESG organisation, integrated it across the company, innovated in products and programmes and processes, streamlined and prioritised our focus, had a meaningful impact in so many ways and we’ve celebrated the amazing humans who made all this happen.”

During her nearly four-year tenure, Cassandra spearheaded a transformation of Dell's ESG framework, emphasising integration across the company.

In an interview with Sustainability Magazine, she highlighted the importance of embedding sustainability into core operations.

“Internally, we have set up systems, processes, accountability, mechanisms, governance and an operating model,” she says.

“All of those things are about integrating environmental and social considerations into absolutely everything that we do.”

Sustainability at General Motors

"General Motors’ vision is to create a world with zero crashes, zero emissions and zero congestion,” the company says.

In its 2023 sustainability report the company outlines its four key focuses:

• Electrification
• Vehicle safety
• Path to autonomous
• Sustainability

These pillars support GM’s journey to carbon neutrality in its global products and operations by 2040. GM is being powered by renewable energy in the US, and working towards extending that to global operations by 2035 – a goal that Cassandra now takes responsibility for.

It seems that she will be a great fit.

“I grew up with cars,” Cassandra says.

“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 a while. 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.”

Sustainability leadership at GM

GM’s previous CSO, Kristen Siemen, retired in November after 30 years with the company.

“As I embark on this new chapter, I’m excited to further champion sustainability, technology and a safer, greener future,” Kristen said at the time.

“Here’s to the continued success of GM - and all of us - in driving change and innovation.”

She spent nearly four years as VP Sustainable Workplaces & Chief Sustainability Officer during which she set GM’s goal to achieve carbon neutrality by 2040.

Kristen now serves as a Sustainability Advisory Board Member at The Heritage Group and an Advisory Board Member at Greenplaces.

Cassandra is a week out from the move over to GM, and is excited to take the sustainability wheel at the automotive giant.

“If there’s one thing I’ve learned during my career, it’s that sustainable business is smart business,” Cassandra says. 

“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.”

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