Historical Spotlight: Denise Gray
What used to be a far-fetched wish, has slowly become an accessible modern American dream as hybrid and fully electric vehicles have grown in popularity. Luxury manufacturers like Tesla, Rivian, and Lucid compete for market share with more affordable brands like Toyota, Honda, and Ford. Improved technology helped increase the number of EVs on the road from 1 million in 2016 to over 10 million in 2020. Join me as we shine a Historical Spotlight on Denise Gray, an innovative Black American woman who helped revolutionize the car industry.
As a child, Denise was surrounded by love from her mom Vernice, her twin sister, and younger brother and sister despite not having a relationship with her dad. The family lived in Detroit, Michigan and she attended Lewis Cass Technical High School, the area’s only magnet school at the time. She was one of only two girls who focused on electronics and even learned how to weld. GM coordinators selected her to participate in their program for students to work half-day jobs before graduating.
She became interested in the car industry from an early age since her mom, aunts, and uncles worked for GM Motors. They held roles that ranged from assembling V6 engines to assembling axles to even making stabilizer bars and other parts. Her mom in particular worked in a General Motors forge plant and completed some of the hottest and most grueling work in the industry.
She finished high school in 1981 and attended General Motors Institute, now known as Kettering University. For five years, she alternated between 12 weeks of studies and 12 weeks in a GM job, rotating among the divisions. In 1986, her last year at the institute, she met Michael Steel, a Black design engineer a few years older than her who became her friend, boss, and mentor.
After graduating, Michael hired her for the midsize-car division as a lead engineer. For the first six years, she designed electrical components for cars’ instrument panels like radio controls integrated into the steering wheel, interior and exterior lighting, air bags, audio equipment, and interfaces between the electrical systems of a vehicle and its engine and transmission.
In 1989, she managed the Corvette team’s electronic development lab and in 1992, moved to the power-train group to develop a new generation of “small block” V8 engines. She was then put in charge of developing and implementing the tests for what became the 1997 Corvette.
In 1995, she got her first director-level job with GM and was fully responsible for delivering the engine-control software. She got her master’s degree in engineering science in 1996 and switched from a technical track to a managerial one.
The Toyota Prius hybrid launched in 1997, forcing manufacturers to quickly develop a product to compete. Despite the rush, Denise didn’t compromise her morals or professional reputation by passing things that weren’t satisfactory.
In 2000, Denise was promoted to director of software engineering, her first executive-level job. She quickly moved up to director of controller integration and applications, making her responsible for systems like fuel delivery, ignition timing, valve opening, overall engine control, transmission shifting, and many others. Over the next few years, she continued increasing her skills and her team even designed, tested, and calibrated all software for five of GM’s four, five, and six speed automatic transmissions.
On October 12, 2006, she secured the coveted new director position to oversee advanced battery work and got started creating the Chevy Volt in hopes of swaying more customers to a GM product. She and her team were under immense pressure to deliver a decade’s worth of testing in just a few short years. Not only did she lead collaboratively and calmly, but she also stuck her neck out to protect her team when faced with unnecessary criticism.
Infamously known as GM’s “battery czar”, she drove forward progress to develop a new generation of batteries. The Volt was designed as an extended-range electric vehicle, which used lithium-ion batteries and a small gas engine. The batteries were rechargeable, making it one of the first mass produced plug-in hybrids.
Denise was tasked with ensuring the batteries could last 10 years and about 150,000 miles. There was a concerted effort to phase out big, gas-thirsty vehicles so the development of the Volt was GM’s most important new car program at the time. She and her team were successful and the Volt was released in December 2010.
She spent 30 years of her career with General Motors, but has held other executive positions focused on advancing battery technology. As one of very few Black women commanding the shots in the auto industry, she didn’t allow the circumstances to force her out of rooms where she belonged and often faced prejudice from being in a predominantly white male dominated space.
Despite all of her major contributions to the industry, she initially rode the city bus to work before receiving her first car in 1980. She received the Women of Color Technologist of the Year Award in 2017, the C3E Lifetime Achievement Award in 2019, and was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2022.
Denise married her husband Kevin in 1987 after meeting while in school at General Motors Institute. He also worked for GM and is a retired engineering executive. Her career has taken the family from Michigan to California and even to Austria. They have two sons named Taylor and Nathan, who are following in their parents’ footsteps and pursuing careers in automotive technology.
Throughout her successful career, she’s prioritized her family first, God second, and work third. She helped change the landscape of the automotive industry and combined her passions to make history.
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Signed,
Jessica Marie
