She’s a woman in a man’s world. General Motors boss Jess Bala shares all things footy, fast cars, family and glass ceilings
Jess Bala is the big boss in an industry crammed with blokes. She sits down with Matt Johnston to talk family, footy and being a leader in male-dominated fields.
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When the boss of General Motors in Australia and New Zealand, Jess Bala, lived in the US while working for the car giant, she had a non-negotiable rule.
“My first week, I said to my boss over there that if the Western Bulldogs make the grand final, which is our Super Bowl, I’m leaving on Wednesday and I’ll be back on Monday, and if you say no, I’ll quit,” she says.
The tongue-in-cheek ultimatum didn’t hamper her career; Bala moved up the auto chain at GM while living in Detroit, before jetting back to Melbourne in 2023 – during footy finals – to lead the Australian and New Zealand division of the company.
The eldest daughter of former Western Bulldogs doctor Jacob Landsberger and nurse Anne Landsberger, Bala grew up with blue, white and red coursing through her veins, hanging out at Whitten Oval when Scott West and Brad Johnson were fan favourites.
She would usually be with her younger brother, leading Herald Sun sports reporter Sam Landsberger – who was tragically hit and killed by a truck last year.
Bala says when their beloved Bulldogs played finals last year, she was still struggling to come to terms with Sam being gone.
“Through the course of that game, I wrote out probably 10 text messages to him, to go to send, and then realised I couldn’t do that anymore,” she says.
“I think I struggle most with feeling like it’s not real; to me he’s still just away, especially for those few weeks after and going back to football, that was such a big part of what he and I bonded over.”
Bala sat down with Matt Johnston for the Big V Interview ahead of International Women’s Day, to discuss the importance of family, leadership in a male-dominated industry, and what she loves most about being back in Melbourne.
Fast cars and footy
Bala jokes that if she was asked about her religion growing up, she would answer, ‘AFL’.
“I remember once dad actually wrote me a letter to get me out of a school rehearsal for a musical on a weekend, and said I had a bat mitzvah or something like that,” she says.
“I was at the football. Then I was on the TV, at the football, front row. Sprung.”
Bala grew up in the bayside Melbourne suburb of Brighton; on weekdays she would attend leading girls school Firbank while on weekends she would follow her dad to the footy.
“My early memories are being at the club with dad, sitting in the stands at Whitten Oval and Waverley in the freezing cold and the pouring rain,” she says.
Bala also remembers going to auto shows at the convention centre with Dr Landsberger and his best mate “from a very, very young age”.
Despite the early connection to cars, Bala says the industry wasn’t on her career radar, and she embarked on a commerce and law degree at Monash University in the early 2000s.
After skipping a law lecture one day she stumbled across Holden advertising at a careers fair.
“I thought, ‘what an awesome iconic Australian brand to work for’, and I applied for an internship in a split second decision.”
“Early on I actually always wanted to be a sports medicine doctor and follow in exactly (dad’s) footsteps.
“I’d stand in the rooms with him as he was stapling players heads and stitching knees. That was what I really wanted to do, but I didn’t do well enough in the UMAT, that extra test you need to sit to get into medicine.
“By chance I’ve fallen into something that I absolutely love instead.”
Tiny fish, massive pond
Starting her auto career at Holden’s logistics department and parts warehouse at Dandenong South, Bala learnt the basics of the business before landing in planning – the “future product portfolio” – following advice from mentors.
This led to an opportunity at GM’s headquarters in Detroit, Michigan, in 2013, just as the local manufacturing industry in Australia was ceasing.
Prior to packing her bags, Bala helped plan the last locally produced Commodore, the VF Commodore.
The Australian manufacturing halt meant about 100 Holden engineers joined Bala in the US, forming what GM locals in Detroit joked was the ‘Aussie Mafia’.
They were important support while far from home, at a time Bala was adjusting to being a “tiny, tiny fish in a massive pond”, living in a city that had declared itself bankrupt.
“I’m not going to lie, the first few years were pretty hard,” she says.
“But the 10 years over there was absolutely one of the best things I’ve done, hands down.”
Towards the end of an initial three year assignment, Bala was preparing to give birth to her first child – just as the Bulldogs were charging towards the 2016 Grand Final.
But her ultimatum to bosses about Bulldogs and Grand Finals wasn’t able to be delivered.
“I got up at 3am Michigan time to watch that preliminary final against GWS, saw the win, and burst into tears because I knew I wasn’t going anywhere, because I was 36 weeks pregnant.”
Luckily, dad had a surprise when his eldest daughter’s family arrived for a Christmas holiday.
“Dad arranged for the premiership cup to come home. So I have photos of my daughter in the Premiership Cup – literally in it.”
Women in leadership
Women fill a fifth of chief executive roles in Australia, and fewer than 40 per cent of senior leadership roles.
The Landsberger family eschews the norm in male-dominated industries – Jess’s sister Sarah is a senior manager at a major construction firm.
Bala talks about the challenge for women who want to have children, but debates whether that will limit promotions.
She tells the story of becoming chief of staff to global GM CEO Mary Barra, not long after giving birth to twins, to show this isn’t necessarily the case.
The twins had been born in Australia, so Bala could lean on support from mum, Anne, but Covid-19 conspired to interrupt when they were two months old.
“I couldn’t see mum, but she’d kindly show up on my doorstep to take my mountains of washing and then drop it back.”
In July, 2020, Bala returned to the US but with no regular flights they had to travel via Doha to Chicago, then drive to Michigan.
“It took us 44 hours door to door with two six month olds and a three year-old,” she says.
Bala says frequent work trips were necessary as part of a global company, but also to build relationships – despite associated “mum guilt”.
“I think there’s a lot of value that comes from face time with people. I like getting to know people … I think it also allows you to understand how people will operate as well, if you have that sort of relationship,” she says.
“There’s a lot of mum guilt that comes with it (the travel). But my eldest gets a lot of pride out of telling people what I do, which is very sweet.”
The decision to relocate to Melbourne, and lead GM’s Australian and NZ division, was driven by “wanting the kids to know their family”.
But it was during a trip back to the other side of the world, that family tragedy struck.
The worst 15 hours of my life
Bala was an hour into hosting media in Los Angeles to showcase the new electric Cadillac when her parents called.
Her brother had been hit by a truck.
Staff bundled her on to a flight out of LA while she got updates on Sam’s condition from family.
“As we were taxiing away from the gate, I got a text that he’d passed away. Then onto a plane with no Wi-Fi,” she says.
“So, the worst 15 hours of my life.
“I learned afterwards that mum, dad and Sarah debated, do they tell me, or do they not tell me?
“And I’m happy they did because I turned my phone on to, I kid you not, over 300 messages from people, because by the time I landed it was all through the media and they all obviously knew Sam.”
Although the family understood the media role Sam held, Bala says it was difficult to have private grief aired publicly and “you couldn’t dodge it no matter where you were”.
“Don’t get me wrong, the tributes for Sam were phenomenal; the number of people at the funeral was mind blowing.”
Shortly after the funeral the AFL finals began – an event Sam would have keenly covered – and Bala took her daughter to the Bulldogs’ elimination final.
“I walked into the MCG with tears running down my face; he normally would have been there with me hands down, or if he was working we would have been texting from the box,” she says.
“We were blown away by the love that we received about him, we just have to hope that time helps, more than anything.”
Cadillacs and corvettes
Prior to taking the GM reins in Australia, Bala was in charge of the transformation of iconic US car brand, Cadillac.
In Australia, Cadillac is now on sale for the first time with an electric vehicle called Lyriq, which Bala says retains some design heritage, paired with modern tech.
“We’re a very fashion forward market (in Australia),” she says.
“Cadillac has never been sold here before, but it’s a very well known brand. It’s actually the most tattooed automotive brand, globally.”
Other well-known US cars, the Corvette and Silverado, have also made it Down Under, while GM is about to release a V8-powered SUV called the Yukon.
So, is ‘big’ now better?
“When I left for the US, or even five years ago, that segment didn’t exist in this country, and so it’s really come out of nowhere and it’s done very well,” she says.
“They’re very much workhorses. In the same way Corvettes are not a car for everyone, neither is a Yukon, but they are suited very well to a specific buyer.”
Bala hints at more Cadillac models coming to Australia, and says she’s behind the wheel of a Yukon now, to her twins’ delight.
“One of my sons was beside himself, he loves the big car,” she says.
“He asked me the morning we were getting it, ‘the big car’s coming home tonight, right?”
Off the Record
First job and pay
Checkout at Woolies, $12/hr (I think!)
If you weren’t doing this job, what would you be doing?
Sports Medicine doctor at the Western Bulldogs
Who would you invite to a dinner party (dead or alive)
Sam (my little brother) – just so I could give him another hug and tell him I love him
Steve Jobs – self-confessed tech nerd and he revolutionised how we live with the
introduction of the iPhone
Taylor Swift – otherwise my daughter would be really angry at me
Book everyone should read
The Bronze Horseman – an absolute favourite of mine
If you could live anywhere in the world besides here, where would it be?
New York City – my favourite city in the world
First concert, dream concert (dead or alive)
First was Beach Boys at Olympic Park when I was eight years old
Dream concert – Michael Jackson
What advice would you give your 18-year-old self?
Don’t sweat the small stuff
First car, current car, dream car
First: Holden Barina.
Current: Lucky enough to be rotating through Cadillac LYRIQ, Chevrolet Corvettes and GMC Yukons
Dream: Cadillac Escalade-V
One thing people didn’t know about you
I have a patent lodged in the US for iris recognition to access and start a vehicle
Rainy day TV binge
Any trashy reality shows – especially Vanderpump Rules
Song you get pumped up to
Raise Your Glass — Pink
Biggest career regret
I believe everything in my career has happened for a reason so no regrets at all
Best piece of advice you’ve received
To be confident and remember you have earned your seat at the table
This year I’m most looking forward to …
Making memories with my beautiful three kids, hopefully watch the Doggies go deep into
September, and the successful launch of some exciting new cars!
The one thing I’d love to change about Victoria/Victorians
The current youth crime crisis
The one thing I love the most about Victoria/Victorians
The food culture – we have the best restaurants and bars in the world!
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