Thomas Stephens, aged sixty two, has been named as the first global chief technology officer of the company by General Motors Co. thus creating a new top executive position to speed up the pace of developing new "game- changing" vehicle technologies.

Stephens' appointment, which will be effective Feb. 1, takes him out from his current job, where he is leading GM's global product development that is a role he's held since the month of April 2009. A replacement will be named shortly, as stated by the company, today.

Stephens is an engineer and a forty two year veteran of the company. He will report directly to the Chief Executive Officer Daniel Akerson in his new role, and stay on the company's executive committee.

The new technology chief is an important element of Akerson's aim to make the company more customer reliant and technology focused, as stated by GM.

His appointment comes latest in a string of management changes under new CEO Akerson, who got the post on Sept. 1 and the board chairman in this year.

In the last month, GM promoted the then American marketing vice president Joel Ewanick to the post of Global Chief Marketing Officer after serving the company less than a year.

On Tuesday, the company had announced that it was moving Chevrolet's marketing director, Chris Perry, to the top U. S. marketing job, effective from Feb. 1.

On Tuesday General Motors Co. had also named Linda Marshall as its new OnStar president Linda Marshall replaced Chris Preuss, who is leaving the company.

Marshall joined GM in the month of November as executive director of OnStar's global business strategy and development. She will be reporting to the vice chairman for corporate strategy and business development Steve Grisly.