Rick Gokenbach’s Journey to Becoming GM Financial CFO

Rick Gokenbach's Journey to Becoming GM Financial CFO

"Be curious and work hard." That's the advice Rick Gokenbach gives to new professionals starting their journey. Those two principles have also guided him throughout his more than 20-year career and led him in April to becoming GM Financial's new Chief Financial Officer.

From navigating the uncertain times of the global financial crisis in the 2000s to helping develop GM Financial's captive strategy, Rick's dedication to learning and bettering himself under any circumstance has been foundational in preparing him for each new chapter.

Career journey

Rick's career began with an internship at General Motors Acceptance Corporation (GMAC) in Detroit while attending Michigan State University. After graduating, he was offered a full-time position. He spent more than 10 years with the company, working mostly in Treasury and Pricing & Development, including five years in New York City during the 2009 financial crisis. Rick said the uncertainty of the economy led to him experiencing several leadership changes over a relatively short period of time.

"You could either crumple under the stress or see how much you could grow from the experience," he said.

Rick tried to learn as much as possible from each of his leaders - their paths to where they were, what they did well or poorly - and take the best of each to develop his own style of leadership. He said the time was pivotal in forming his approach to strategic planning and managing in a crisis.

In 2013, he had an opportunity to leverage those skills as part of GM Financial's Pricing and Product Development team. Rick was intrigued by the idea of helping build out the strategy for GM Financial to become a full captive financial services provider for General Motors (GM).

"I was really motivated to use the knowledge gained from my previous experiences toward something new," he said. "GM Financial was an opportunity to do something fresh with a really focused goal."

This focus ultimately led to the development of GM Financial's captive strategy, which was centered on four pillars: driving sales, enhancing customer experience and loyalty, supporting GM through economic cycles and contributing to enterprise profitability. That resulted in launching prime lending, expanding leasing operations, managing the balance sheet to support that growth and establishing the company's creditability internally and externally as a leading auto finance company, among many other accomplishments.

A culture like no other

Although Rick was drawn to GM Financial by the chance to build something new, the empowering and supportive culture has played a key role in keeping him at the company. He recalled his first meeting and how pleasantly surprised he was by the open communication and trust that was on display.

"We were speaking openly and honestly, and we were all there to problem-solve," he recounted. "That only happens when there's a high degree of trust."

That culture is what allowed him to sharpen the leadership skills he'd already developed and become the open, honest, trustworthy leader he wanted to be. He said it starts at the top with leaders like Susan Sheffield, current President and CEO; Kyle Birch, President of North America Operations; Dan Berce, former President and CEO, and countless others.

"We have the luxury of having really smart, capable leaders who are also humble and kind," he said. "That's not something that exists in a lot of other places."

Priorities as CFO

As he wades further into his new role, Rick is focused on the continued modernization and diversification of the business to ensure the company can meet the future needs of both dealers and retail customers. That includes AI implementation, system enhancements, data management and more.

"I'm really focused on what the next 10 years look like," he said. "The great thing is that it's already a wonderful organization, and we can take that foundation and continue to build."

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