A Look At Influential African Americans In The U.S. Auto Industry

Occupation: Vice President of the United Auto Workers

When the UAW negotiated contracts with Detroit's Big Three automakers last year, Settles played an integral role in the sometimes-contentious negotiations that ultimately resulted in more automotive jobs. Of course, that's nothing new for Settles, now more than 40 years into his career. He was elected to his first union position in 1970, not long after his 20th birthday. He started as a member of the UAW Local 600 while working at the Dearborn Iron Foundry. Now he's the vice president of a union that has roughly 400,000 active members.

Occupation: CEO of Delphi Automotive.

When General Motors spun Delphi off into an independent company in 1998, O'Neal, a long-time GM employee followed. He was elected as a vice president of interior systems. Nine years later, he was named chief executive officer. He began his automotive career as a student at General Motors Institute and currently serves on the board of directors at Goodyear Tire and Sprint/Nextel. His biggest achievement perhaps was guiding Delphi through a turbulent bankruptcy while the automotive industry experienced a severe contraction.

Occupation: Vice President of Marketing, Cadillac

Butler has enjoyed something of a vagabond career in the auto industry. He first joined General Motors in 1981 as a student and rose through the ranks. He was named a vice president at OnStar in 2001, was named chairman and managing director of General Motors Egypt in 2005, served as a senior vice president for marketing at a Seatte tech company and most recently, returned to GM to help lead its Cadillac renaissance.

He earned a bachelor’s degree at General Motors Institute and his M.B.A. from Harvard, where he attended as a GM fellow. He’s a previous recipient of the National Black Engineer of the Year award in the U.S. and was also named one of the Top 50 Business Leaders of Egypt.