General Motors Appoints Luay Al Shurafa to Lead Africa and Middle East Business

General Motors has appointed Luay Al Shurafa as President and Managing Director GM Africa and Middle East Operations (AMEO) – its first locally born and raised Middle East leader.

Al Shurafa has a clear mandate to oversee the business’s recovery from COVID-19, and deliver sustainable growth for the long term, said GM Senior Vice President and President GM International, Steve Kiefer.

“Luay is a highly credentialled senior automotive executive who has a deep knowledge of the markets in which we compete,” said Kiefer.

“His immediate priorities are to lead our business through the COVID-19 pandemic, ensuring the ongoing success of core vehicle lines, like the all-new Chevrolet Captiva, our luxury Cadillacs, premium GMC vehicles and our world-class full-size trucks and SUVs, as well as the debut of OnStar.

“I have every confidence that under Luay’s leadership, we will sustain strong partnerships with our dealers and deep connection with our customers, to ensure we grow our business for the long term.”

Al Shurafa succeeds John Roth, who has been appointed Global Vice President Customer Care and Aftersales, based in Detroit, from September 1. Roth began his current role in early 2018.

“John has laid the foundations for growth in our AMEO business,” said Kiefer. 

“He has stopped the market share decline; delivered profitable sales and aftersales growth; and set a five-year strategy for sales and financial growth.”

Al Shurafa said: “Strong partnerships with our dealers and a deep connection with our customers will remain the key enablers for the success of Chevrolet, Cadillac and GMC in the Middle East and Africa for the long term.”

Roth said: “It has been my honor to lead the team which is delivering on GM’s commitment to bring the safest, most diverse and most connected vehicles across Chevrolet, GMC and Cadillac to customers in the region.”

Al Shurafa, currently MD Commercial Operations – Middle East and Sub-Saharan Africa, began his career with GM in 1998, serving in several Finance, Sales, Marketing and Aftersales leadership roles including Managing Director for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. He has been instrumental in helping the Middle East business to navigate through significant challenges, while also driving growth in key markets. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in International Finance and an MBA from the University of North Texas. Luay has complemented finance and business education with the Emerging Leader Program from Harvard and is currently enrolled in the Transformational Leadership and Design Thinking at Stanford University Graduate School of Business.