NEW YORK, July 15, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — The Ad Council announced today that Mary Barra, Chair and CEO of General Motors, will be honored at the 72nd annual Public Service Award Dinner on December 3, 2026. Barra will receive the Award for Public Service in recognition of her transformational leadership and General Motor’s longstanding commitment to social impact.
“Mary embodies what it means to be a truly effective leader. She is bold and grounded in the conviction that business is and must be a force for good,” said Lisa Sherman, President and CEO of the Ad Council. “Her leadership makes clear that progress and purpose are not competing priorities, but powerful partners. We are honored to recognize her vision, her commitment to innovation, and the lasting impact of her work.”
Barra began her career with GM in 1980 as a General Motors Institute (now Kettering University) co-op student at the Pontiac Motor Division. After serving in a variety of roles across the organization, she has served as CEO of GM since 2014 and was elected Chair of the GM Board of Directors in 2016. She has steered GM through a historic shift toward electrification while embedding sustainability and social responsibility at the heart of the company’s identity.
Since 1947, GM has supported the Ad Council’s mission to address the most pressing issues in the U.S., with longstanding tenure on the organization’s Board of Directors. In recent years, GM has supported a number of the nonprofit’s campaigns, including the award-winning COVID-19 Vaccine Education Initiative.
“It’s an honor to be recognized by the Ad Council, an organization that we have proudly supported for decades,” said GM Chair and CEO Mary Barra. “At GM, safety is our overriding priority, and we believe our responsibility extends beyond the vehicles we build to the communities we serve. Whether we are helping expand educational opportunity through our recent $50 million commitment in Michigan or working with partners like the Ad Council to deliver messages that can save lives, we are committed to using our scale, innovation, and platform to create meaningful impact.”
The Ad Council’s Public Service Award Dinner is the organization’s largest fundraising event, bringing together leaders from the media, marketing, advertising and technology industries. In 2025, the Dinner raised a record-breaking $10 million to support the Ad Council’s national social impact campaigns.
Former recipients of the Ad Council’s Award for Public Service include Chairman of the National Football League Roger Goodell, CEO of The Walt Disney Company Bob Iger, Chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase Jamie Dimon, Walmart CEO Doug McMillon, Verizon Chairman and CEO Hans Vestberg, IBM CEO Ginni Rometty and Pepsi CEO Indra Nooyi.
This year’s event will be co-chaired by the newly appointed Ad Council Board Chair Kirk McDonald, CEO of Sundial Media & Technology Group and Lin-Hua Wu, Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing and Communications Officer, General Motors.
For more information and to purchase tables or tickets, please visit the event website.
ABOUT THE AD COUNCIL
The Ad Council convenes creative storytellers to educate, unite and uplift audiences by opening hearts, inspiring action and accelerating change. For more than 80 years, the nonprofit organization and its partners in advertising, media, marketing and tech have been behind some of the country’s most iconic social impact campaigns – Smokey Bear, Friends Don’t Let Friends Drive Drunk, Tear the Paper Ceiling and many more.
To learn more or get involved, visit AdCouncil.org, join the Ad Council’s communities on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn, and view campaign creative on YouTube.
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SOURCE The Ad Council
