Alicia Boler Davis is an American engineer and businesswoman. Boler Davis began her career at General Motors, rising to the rank of executive vice president of global manufacturing in 2016. In 2019, she joined Amazon as senior vice president of global customer fulfillment. During her time at Amazon, she led much of the company's response to the COVID-19 pandemic and became the first Black executive to join its senior leadership (known internally as the S-team).[1]
Alicia Boler Davis | |
|---|---|
 Alicia Boler Davis speaks for Brightline Project Management Institute in 2017 | |
| Alma mater | Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Northwestern University Kelley School of Business |
| Occupation | CEO |
| Employer | Alto Pharmacy |
| Known for | Operations and Engineering |
In late June 2022, Davis announced she would become the new CEO of Alto Pharmacy, a digital pharmacy startup with about $1 billion in revenue and 1,200 employees, starting in September 2022.[1]
Early life and education
editBoler Davis spent her childhood fixing broken items in her home, where she grew up with her mother Denise and 3 siblings.[2][3] She attended a high school program at the General Motors Institute and she decided she wanted to work there.[4][5] She completed her bachelor's degree in chemical engineering at Northwestern University.[6] She was the first generation of her family to attend college, following her sister Kimberly Boler who studied at Harvard University and became an attorney.[2] She followed this with a master's degree in engineering science at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.[6] She received a Master of Business Administration from Kelley School of Business at Indiana University Bloomington.[2]
Career
editIn 1994 Boler Davis joined General Motors as a manufacturing engineer.[6] She was plant manager at the Michigan Orion Assembly facility.[6] She was the first black woman to become a plant manager.[7][8] She simultaneously led the plant at Pontiac Stamping.[9]
She was appointed Vice President of Customer Experience at General Motors in 2012.[6] She was promoted to Senior Vice President for Global Customer Experience in 2013.[10] She was part of the Forbes Most Powerful Women Next Gen Summit in 2014.[11] That year she spoke at the University of California, Berkeley Haas School of Business.[12] She was promoted to Executive Vice President of global manufacturing in 2016 and leads 180,000 employees.[2][13] Since 2016 she has served on the board of directors at General Mills.[7][14] She joined the board of Beaumont Health in 2017.[15]
In 2018 Boler Davis became the sixth woman to be named Black Engineer of the Year.[16][17][18][19] She has championed and mentored women in the automotive industry, and serves as the Executive Liaison for the GM WOMEN leadership board.[20][21]
On April 1, 2019, Boler Davis Joined Amazon as VP of Global Customer Fulfillment and was subsequently promoted to SVP of Global Customer Fulfillment. Her role included leading fulfillment, customer service, and robotics globally. She quickly became one of Amazon's most high-profile executives, especially in leading much of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including doubling the fulfillment network, overhauling more than 150 warehouses, and hiring 275,000 people.[22][23]
In June 2022, Boler Davis was named CEO of Alto Pharmacy, a digital pharmacy startup with about $1 billion in revenue and 1,200 employees. Boler Davis turned down offers to run Fortune 500 companies to lead the digital telehealth startup seeking to improve prescription delivery access.[1]
Boards
edit2016 - 2019 General Mills
2017 - 2019 Beaumont Health
2023 - pres. JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Awards and honors
edit2021: Fortune Most Powerful Women, #17 [24]
2020: Fortune Most Powerful Women, #12 [25]
2018: US Black Engineer Magazine - Black Engineer of the Year[26]
2018: Business Insider - Most Powerful Female Engineers in the World[7]
2017: Automotive News - All Star in Manufacturing[27]
2016: Trumpet Awards - Corporate Executive of the Year[28]
2014: Women of Color Magazine - Technologist of the Year[29]
2013: Fortune - Top 10 most powerful women in the automotive industry[30][31]
2011: Michigan Chronicle - Woman of Excellence[32]
2010: Automotive News - 100 Leading Women in the North American Automotive Industry[33]
References
edit- ^ a b c Hinchliffe, Emma (2022-08-12). "Why Alicia Boler Davis left Amazon's S-team—and turned down Fortune 500 CEO jobs—for a startup". FORTUNE. Retrieved 2022-10-17.
- ^ a b c d "GM VP Alicia Boler-Davis wins Black Engineer of Year". Detroit News. Retrieved 2018-09-08.
- ^ "How A GM Exec Juggles Work & Raising 2 Boys". Retrieved 2018-09-08.
- ^ "Alicia Boler Davis". Monarch Magazine. Retrieved 2018-09-08.
- ^ WASHINGTON, FRANK S. "1st African-American woman to manage a GM assembly plant". Indianapolis Recorder Newspaper. Retrieved 2018-09-08.
- ^ a b c d e "Corporate Officers". www.gm.com. Retrieved 2018-09-08.
- ^ a b c "The 39 most powerful female engineers of 2018". Business Insider. Retrieved 2018-09-08.
- ^ "Queen of Cars". dynamath.scholastic.com. Retrieved 2018-09-08.
- ^ "Alicia Boler-Davis". www.allamericanspeakers.com. Retrieved 2018-09-08.
- ^ "US: GM targets quality with expanded role for Boler-Davis". 2013-06-28. Retrieved 2018-09-08.
- ^ "GM's Alicia Boler-Davis on encouraging girls to pursue STEM careers". Fortune. Retrieved 2018-09-08.
- ^ "Women in STEM: 10 quotes by GM's Alicia Boler-Davis - The Bay State Banner". The Bay State Banner. 2014-12-22. Retrieved 2018-09-08.
- ^ "General Mills Elects Alicia S. Boler Davis to Board of Directors". www.prnewswire.com (Press release). Retrieved 2018-09-08.
- ^ "General Mills Elects Alicia S. Boler Davis to Board of Directors". investors.generalmills.com. Retrieved 2018-09-08.
- ^ "Beaumont Health welcomes new board member Alicia Boler Davis". www.beaumont.org. Retrieved 2018-09-08.
- ^ "Alicia Boler Davis is 2018 Black Engineer - US Black Engineer". US Black Engineer. Retrieved 2018-09-08.
- ^ "GM's Alicia Boler-Davis Selected 2018 Black Engineer of the Year". DiversityInc. 2017-12-05. Retrieved 2018-09-08.
- ^ Deen, Lango (2018). "THE TRAILBLAZING Alicia Boler Davis". US Black Engineer and Information Technology. 42 (1): 22–27. JSTOR 26305574.
- ^ "GM VP Alicia Boler-Davis Wins Black Engineer of Year". Retrieved 2018-09-08.
- ^ "Alicia Boler Davis GM Women Be Bold". Autonews. 2017-11-03. Retrieved 2018-09-08.
- ^ "ALICIA BOLER DAVIS SELECTED 2018 BLACK ENGINEER OF THE YEAR". Indie Soul Magazine. 2018-01-16. Retrieved 2018-09-08.
- ^ Liu, Jennifer (2021-02-10). "How Alicia Boler Davis took on Amazon's Covid crises and became part of Jeff Bezos' inner circle". CNBC. Retrieved 2022-10-17.
- ^ Day, Matt (2022-06-21). "Amazon Senior Black Executives Are Leaving E-Commerce Giant". Bloomberg. Retrieved 2022-10-17.
- ^ "Fortune Most Powerful Women". Fortune. Retrieved 2022-10-17.
- ^ "Fortune Most Powerful Women". Fortune. Retrieved 2022-10-17.
- ^ "Alicia Boler Davis is 2018 Black Engineer of the Year - US Black Engineer". US Black Engineer. Retrieved 2018-09-08.
- ^ "Executive vice president of global manufacturing, General Motors". Autonews. 2017-11-26. Retrieved 2018-09-08.
- ^ "GM's Alicia Boler-Davis Honored During 24th Annual Trumpet Awards". GM Authority. Retrieved 2018-09-08.
- ^ "Introducing the 2014 Technologist of the Year: Alicia Boler-Davis". The News Wheel. 2014-10-27. Retrieved 2018-09-08.
- ^ "10 Most Powerful Women in autos". Fortune. Retrieved 2018-09-08.
- ^ Fortune Magazine (2014-12-09), Alicia Boler-Davis of General Motors at MPW Next Gen | Fortune, retrieved 2018-09-08
- ^ "Alicia Boler-Davis ventures where others dare not go". womenofcolor.online. Retrieved 2018-09-08.
- ^ "100 Leading Women in the North American Auto Industry" (PDF). Autonews. 2015-11-09. Retrieved 2018-09-08.