012 NAFE WOMEN OF EXCELLENCE – ACTIVIST AWARD

NAFE Activist Award winner Victoria McInnis, now the Chief Tax Officer at General Motors, knows the challenges of working in a male-dominated industry, often taking risks as a non-traditional candidate for assignments that benefitted her career. She now oversees the company’s tax and customs functions. With a law degree from the University of Western Ontario, she started her career at a law firm—always focused on tax law. But she wanted to move beyond just counseling clients into operationalizing her advice, so she made the jump to the corporate side, going to work for the nation’s biggest car company. “It certainly was not infrequent that I would sit in meetings filled with grey suits. I’d wear one, too, to fit in,” she says. But things have changed for women during her 17 years at GM, and Victoria now leverages her current highly visible position to help other women succeed.

She believes that visibility is key to women’s success. “I want younger women to become part of the powerful, informal networks where a lot business decisionmaking occurs,” Victoria says. “I encourage women to join diversity groups and to look at whom they have lunch with. I’m always reminding people that there are lots of different styles that can succeed, and that they can contribute without conforming to older, more traditional styles of leadership.” Her activism includes creating stretch opportunities and global assignments for women in her group, “which is how you establish a concrete differentiator that sets you apart when future opportunities come along.” She couples these assignments with a “safe return” policy that encourages their taking personal and professional risks.

Victoria’s motivation for activism is twofold: “I want make a difference for women, which also means securing a competitive advantage for the company.” She serves as executive champion for GM’s Chinese Employee Resource Group and is part of the leadership team for the Women in Finance group. And she encourages diversity at suppliers. But her activism extends beyond the walls of GM. She serves on the board of Matrix Human Resources, a Detroit-based charity focused on breaking generational poverty. The organization’s work varies from providing guarantees to landlords reluctant to supply housing; to picking up women leaving jail who have no place to go; to sending inner city children to summer camp.