NEWSROOM

AAPI Heritage Month: Celebrating Asians and Pacific Islanders in GMF’s Diverse Workforce

The number of GM Financial team members and senior leaders who identify as Asian and Pacific Islander is growing. In fact, it reached 8% of the company’s U.S. workforce at the end of 2023, making Asians and Pacific Islanders the fastest-growing ethnicity among U.S. senior leadership, defined as Assistant Vice Presidents and above.

Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month is a perfect time to celebrate these team members. The annual observance in May honors the contributions of Asians and Pacific Islanders to the history, culture and achievements of the United States.

“The increase in AAPI representation in our workforce is evidence of GM Financial’s ongoing commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion,” said Shunda Robinson, Senior Vice President and Chief DE&I Officer.

“I’m really proud that our company fosters an inclusive environment that makes it welcoming for any and every ethnicity to feel a sense of belonging here,” Shunda said. “When Asian and Pacific Islander team members and job candidates see themselves represented at GMF, especially among leaders, it makes them more likely to join the company and stay with the company.”

By the numbers

GM Financial’s AAPI demographics:

2023

• 72 of the company’s 885 senior leaders (8%) were Asians and Pacific Islanders.
• Asians and Pacific Islanders also made up 8% of the total workforce.

2022

• 62 of the company’s 862 senior leaders (7%) were Asians and Pacific Islanders.
• Asians and Pacific Islanders also made up 7% of the total workforce.

Nationwide, the number of Asians and Pacific Islanders is also growing. In 2022, the U.S. Census Bureau reported that 20.6 million people in the U.S. identify as Asian, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander alone (not in combination with another race), making up 6.2% of the nation’s population.

Asian and Pacific Islander team members in their own words

Three team members discuss why they chose to pursue their careers at GM Financial.

Francis Yuan, Data Scientist I

• Time with GMF: Eight months
• Where in Asia do you trace your roots? China
• What college or university did you attend, and what influenced your decision to go there? I did my graduate degree at Brown University with cross-registration at Harvard University. I made my choice to attend Brown because it allowed me to explore different areas that I love with passion.
• What do you like best about your chosen career field? I was a data science major, and I chose data scientist as my starting career. I like this career path because of my interest in numbers, logic and programming. I am able to accomplish meaningful results across records from different sources and across long time spans.
• What influenced your decision to work at GMF? I was drawn to GMF because of its leadership in harnessing data science to redefine automotive financing. The use of analytics aligns with my passion for applying data to solve complex problems and to improve decision-making in the auto finance industry.
• What do you like most about working at GMF? Accessible management and collaboration across different teams.

Masae Hardwick, Production Specialist, Marketing and Communications

• Time at GMF: 1 year, 11 months
• Where in Asia do you trace your roots? Japan
• What college or university did you attend, and what influenced your decision to go there? Texas Christian University. Growing up in Japan, I was always seeking new adventures. When I was 13, I went to New Zealand to spend two weeks with a host family and realized there’s a whole world out there that I had never imagined. When I was a freshman in high school, we hosted an exchange student from L.A., and the following year I stayed with her family in L.A. We hosted another student the following summer. I decided to research going to school in another country. I found an agency that provided school options based on what I wanted to study, which was radio, TV and film at the time. I wanted to live somewhere warm, and Texas was the most southern option they provided.
• What do you like best about your chosen career field? The best part is the ability to meet people who are extremely creative in every way. It keeps my mind fresh!
• What influenced your decision to work at GMF? Before I joined GMF, I stayed home for seven years after leaving my previous corporate job of 14 years. My children are much older now, and I was starting to feel bored and ready for something new. A good friend I used to work with, and who now works at GMF, asked if I would be interested in a few open positions. Flexibility was very important to me, so being able to work from home was a huge benefit. Also, I already knew a few people at GMF, so it seemed like a good opportunity for me to ease back into the working environment once again.
• What do you like most about working at GMF? The people I work with, which is very important to me. No matter how busy we are, they just make my day better!

Hanh DeLong, Production Specialist, Marketing and Communications

• Time at GMF: Two years
• Where in Asia do you trace your roots? I was born in South Vietnam in the city of Saigon.
• What college or university did you attend, and what influenced your decision to go there? I am a Texas Christian University Horned Frog alum. I grew up in New Orleans, and I chose TCU because I wanted to go out of state. I had no idea what I wanted to major in and lucked out because TCU was one of the few four-year colleges that offered graphic design as a major at the time. Picking TCU was one of my best decisions!
• What do you like best about your chosen career field? It’s so hard to pinpoint the best thing. There are so many aspects of the field that I love — getting to be creative and solve problems, getting to provide something that’s needed, constantly learning and always being challenged. Ultimately, I would say the best thing about being a graphic designer is that I’m never bored.
• What influenced your decision to work at GMF? I applied on a recommendation from a former colleague whose opinion I highly respect. She spoke well of the company and in particular praised the team that I’m now privileged to be on.
• What do you like most about working at GMF? It would have to be the wonderful company I keep every day on the Production and Design team. It’s a group of the most wonderfully diverse and goofiest people (and I count myself as one) you’ll ever meet. I’m laughing all the time and they inspire me. They make “working” really fun. 

By Sonny Bohanan, GM Financial

Sonny Bohanan is a writer who loves telling stories and has a special passion for writing about life events that help foster diversity, equity and inclusion. Libraries and used bookstores provide the ideal backdrop for Sonny’s penchant for reading and writing fiction.