General Motors CFO Chuck Stevens is retiring after spending more than four decades at the automaker.

The largest U.S. automaker has appointed Dhivya Suryadevara, vice president of corporate finance, to replace him on Sept. 1.

Stevens will stay on as an adviser from that point until his official retirement date of March 1, 2019.

The change comes as GM is making big moves in autonomous driving and electrification, two technologies that are considered key to the future of transportation around the world. Detroit firms are trying to prove to investors they are pursuing new business just as aggressively as tech industry firms and start-ups in Silicon Valley and elsewhere in the world.

Suryadevara played a key role in Softbank’s investment in GM’s autonomous driving subsidiary, Cruise Automation. She was also involved in the acquisition of Cruise in 2016, was integral to GM’s investment in ride-sharing firm Lyft and in the sale of GM’s European brand Opel to French carmaker PSA. She joined GM in 2005.

Shares of GM were basically flat at the market’s open.

Stevens has served as CFO since 2014. Throughout his long career with the company he held regional CFO positions for North and South America, and leadership roles in several Asian countries, such as China, Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand. His tenure at GM began in 1978, when he went to work for Buick.

Source: Tech CNBC
General Motors CFO Chuck Stevens is retiring