Kent Helfrich was appointed Chief Technology Officer and Vice President, Global Research and Development for General Motors and President, GM Ventures on August 1, 2021. In these roles, Helfrich is responsible for innovation and technology solutions in the development of GM vehicles.

Helfrich previously was GM’s executive director of Global Electrification and Battery Systems, responsible for GM electrified vehicle hardware development and the overall electric vehicle propulsion calibration and driving performance.

Prior to re-joining GM in November 2016, Helfrich was vice president and CTO at Flex Automotive, splitting his time between Detroit and Silicon Valley.

In earlier GM positions, Helfrich was executive director and global functional leader for Vehicle Electrical Systems and executive director of Electronic Controls and Software for Powertrain and Vehicle systems. Between these two roles, Helfrich was globally responsible for all unstyled electrical systems in the vehicle, as well as defining electrical architecture and software architecture strategies.

Helfrich earned a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Ohio State University and an MBA from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business.