Our Leadership

Marissa West

GM Canada President and Managing Director

Marissa West leads GM Canada at a pivotal time, as the automotive industry shifts to electrification. In this role, Marissa’s focus is supporting customers, dealers and employees as GM prepares for an all-electric future. Among Marissa’s key priorities are leveraging GM’s Canadian Technical Centre as a hotbed of innovation, and continuing to improve gender equity, diversity, and accessibility in the workplace and in GM’s vehicles.

In the 20 years she’s worked at GM, Marissa has held a variety of engineering roles in multiple departments. Marissa was Executive Chief Engineer for GM’s Global Mid-Size Truck and Medium-Duty Truck programs and the Chief Engineer for the Next Generation Full-Size Truck programs before that. In that earlier role, her team launched the 2020 GMC Sierra HD and the Chevrolet Silverado HD, and was responsible for leading other full size truck programs representing US$1.6 billion in investment and more than 1.4 million vehicles produced annually.

Before becoming Chief Engineer, Marissa led the Global Noise and Vibration Center and later orchestrated and led the merger of two distinct GM engineering centres into one agile, efficient organization. To support GM’s vision of accessible transportation, Marissa formed GM’s Accessibility Center of Excellence, which works across the entire organization using technology and innovation to unlock barriers to mobility.

As the Chief of Staff to the Executive Vice-President of Global Product Development, Purchasing and Supply Chain, Marissa was instrumental in coordinating product processes from start to finish and working cross functionally to deliver enterprise-wide results.

Beyond her engineering work, Marissa is passionate about encouraging girls and underrepresented minorities to pursue education and careers in STEM and in 2018 she was nominated for a Society of Women Engineers (SWE) award for “Advocating in Women in Engineering”.

She holds a master's degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Michigan and a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from Michigan State University, which included engineering studies at RWTH Aachen University in Germany. Additionally, she has completed Positive Leadership and Design Thinking executive training through the University of Michigan and the Transformational Leadership Executive Education Program at Stanford.

Marissa lives in Toronto with her husband Bob and their four children.

Sandor Piszar

Vice President, Sales, Service and Marketing, GM Canada

Sandor was appointed to vice president of GM Canada sales, service and marketing in September 2019, reporting to Marissa West, GM Canada president and managing director.

Prior to this role, Piszar was director of marketing for Chevrolet trucks where he led the brand’s advertising and marketing efforts and the launches of several vehicles and special edition models. He held that position since March 2014.

As director of performance and accessories for GM’s Performance Vehicles and Motorsports group, Piszar was responsible for integration of the Chevrolet brand across performance vehicles, motorsports, performance parts and divisional marketing activities.

As director of GMC product marketing, Piszar led the brand’s marketing efforts and oversaw projects such as defining brand basics and performance standards.

He has also held the positions of senior manager - accessories, manager of retail marketing integration, and various zone and district manager positions in GM’s U.S. field operations.

A graduate of Eastern Michigan University, Piszar joined GM in 1998. He also has an MBA from University of Phoenix and completed the Chief Marketing Officer Program from Northwestern University, Kellogg School of Management as well as the Leading with Impact Executive Training Program from the University of Michigan, Stephen M. Ross School of Business.

Faithlyn Hemmings

Vice President and Lead Counsel, General Motors of Canada Company

Faithlyn is Vice President and Lead Counsel for General Motors Canada. Leading the Canadian Legal organization, she oversees all the legal needs of the company. Since joining GM Canada, Faithlyn has lent her expertise to provide legal support to the Sales, Service and Marketing, Real Estate, Environment, Finance, Connected Customer Experience, and Customer Care and Aftersales organizations, among others.

Faithlyn is also a member of the Canadian Executive Council, the GM Canada Board of Directors, and GM’s global Legal and Public Policy team.  Faithlyn is the Chief Privacy Officer for Canada.

Prior to joining General Motors, Faithlyn was General Counsel and Privacy Officer to Hyundai Canada.  In this role, she handled all legal matters for the corporation, including regulatory affairs, dealer matters, commercial matters, consumer relations and litigation management.

Faithlyn began her career with Blaney McMurtry LLP in Toronto, representing clients across an array of industries including telecommunications, software development, entertainment, professional services, banking, insurance, and manufacturing.

She holds an Honors Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws from the University of Windsor.

David Cummings

Vice President Finance & CFO

David was appointed to Vice President Finance & CFO, GM Canada in January 2021, reporting to John Stapleton, CFO of GM North America. David joined General Motors in 2004 and has held a variety of roles of increasing responsibility including experiences in Sales & Marketing, Manufacturing, Treasury, and Corporate Development.

Prior to his current role, David was Finance Director in GM’s U.S. Sales, Service & Marketing organization beginning in 2015. From 2017 through 2020, David was Director of U.S. Incentives and led a team of over 30 individuals that were primarily responsible for strategic support of U.S. marketing divisions in monthly incentive development, go-to-market tactics, marketing budget and consolidations. From mid-2015 to 2017, David was Director of U.S. Pricing, and led a team of over 30 individuals that were similarly responsible for all current and future U.S. vehicle and accessories pricing.

From 2013 through mid-2015, David was Director of Corporate Finance and Capital Planning in GM’s Treasurer’s Office with responsibility for corporate capital allocation strategies, global liquidity management, cash flow forecasting, ratings agency relationships, shareholder activism preparation, and other projects for senior leadership.

David initially joined the GM executive team in September 2011 when he was named Director of Corporate Development and Global Mergers & Acquisitions. In this role, he led the successful divestiture of a GM manufacturing facility in France and played key roles in transactions ranging from negotiation of collaboration agreements with Peugeot Société Anonyme to advanced technology co-development agreements, EV/GHG credit transactions, and GM Ventures investments.

From mid-2009 to 2011, David was Manager of Labour Strategy in GM Manufacturing, supporting successful completion of the 2011 GM-UAW National Labour Negotiations. From 2008 to 2009, David was Manager of GM Investor Relations during the period up to and including GM’s bankruptcy. Prior to this, David spent four years as part of the GM Treasurer’s Office where he lived and worked in New York (U.S.) and Brussels (Belgium) and moved through roles that included cash management, foreign exchange hedging strategy and execution, and business development.

David is passionate about career development and is an advocate for employee engagement. In his spare time, David serves as a leader with local scouting organizations and enjoys spending outdoors time with his family.

David holds both MBA in Finance and Bachelor of Science in Engineering degrees from Duke University.

David Paterson

Vice President, Corporate and Environmental Affairs
General Motors of Canada Company

David Paterson leads Communications, Government and Environmental Relations for General Motors Canada and is a member of GM’s global Public Policy and Communications teams. His areas of expertise and responsibility for GM Canada include international trade agreements, climate and carbon policy, electricity costs, vehicle GHG and electric vehicle regulations, safety regulation, cyber security, privacy, taxation, investment incentives, pensions, worker compensation, real estate, labour law and red tape reduction.

David is a past Chair of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce and currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Canadian Journalism Foundation, the Canadian Motor Vehicle Association, the Canadian American Business Council, and the Executive of the Canadian Automotive Partnership Council.

Prior to joining GM in 2014, he was Senior Vice President, Government Relations & Public Policy at BlackBerry (formerly Research in Motion) where he led global government relations and public policy. At BlackBerry he led a global team of 60 responsible for regulatory advocacy and engagement in 175 countries. Key issues included international market access, intellectual property, lawful access, and privacy.

Prior to joining BlackBerry in October 2010, David was Senior Vice President, Public Affairs at Manulife Financial, one of the world’s largest insurance and financial services companies. 

From 2002-2009, David served as Vice President and member of the Board of Directors of General Motors Canada Limited where he negotiated an $11 billion restructuring support agreement with Canadian Governments - one of the most challenging periods in the Company’s history. From 1995 to 2002, he was Senior Vice President, Corporate Affairs at AGRA Inc., and post merger in the same role for AMEC plc, one of Europe’s largest engineering services companies. At AMEC, he managed corporate and investor communications, based in London, U.K.  From 1990 to 1995, David led corporate and international government relations accounts at Hill and Knowlton Canada where he became Senior Vice President. 

Between 1986 and 1990, he worked on the staff of various Ontario Government Cabinet Ministers, acting as Executive Assistant to the Government House Leader and as a Special Assistant to the Ministers of Government Services, Education, the Attorney General for Ontario and the Minister responsible for Race Relations, Native Affairs and Women’s Issues.  

He is married with a daughter and lives in Toronto, Canada.