Roy Roberts (chief executive)

{{short description|American business executive (born 1939)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2020}}

Roy S. Roberts is an American business executive who had a long career at General Motors before retiring as group vice president, North American Vehicle Sales, Service and Marketing in 2000.{{cite web|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-2812376.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121105152539/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-2812376.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=2012-11-05 |title=Roy Roberts: From Sharecropper to shareholder |newspaper= Michigan Chronicle|via=Highbeam |date=1996-08-06 |accessdate=2011-03-01}} He is also a former managing director at Reliant Equity Investors.{{cite web|author=Roy S. Roberts |url=http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/person.asp?personId=372855&privcapId=970556&previousCapId=247483&previousTitle=ABBOTT%20LABORATORIES |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121010205842/http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/person.asp?personId=372855&privcapId=970556&previousCapId=247483&previousTitle=ABBOTT%20LABORATORIES |url-status=dead |archive-date=10 October 2012 |title=Roy Roberts: Executive Profile & Biography - BusinessWeek |work=Bloomberg BusinessWeek |accessdate=2011-03-01}}[http://detroitk12.org/admin/emergency_manager/bio/ "Roy Roberts Biography," Detroit Public Schools] detroitk12.org From 2011 - 2013 he was the Detroit Public Schools' Emergency Financial Manager and board chairman of the Education Achievement Authority of Michigan.[http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=8205 Polston, Mike. "Roy Roberts (1939-)"] Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture, 14 June 2017

He is considered{{According to whom|date=May 2021}} a pioneer for African Americans in the auto industry. He once told Forbes magazine, "I've been the first black everywhere I went. One of my jobs is to see I'm not the last."{{Cite web|title=A Retired Auto Exec at the Helm of Detroit's Schools|url=https://www.bet.com/article/4pa5k0/a-retired-auto-exec-at-the-helm-of-detroit-s-schools|access-date=2021-05-17|website=BET.com}}

An August 1988 article published in The New York Times stated Roberts was the second African-American vice-president at GM, after Otis Smith.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/08/02/business/business-people-vice-president-at-gm-takes-post-at-navistar.html?scp=1&sq=Roy%20Roberts%20August%202,%201988&st=cse |title=BUSINESS PEOPLE; Vice President at G.M. Takes Post at Navistar - New York Times |work=The New York Times |date=1988-08-02 |accessdate=2011-03-01}} For much of his career he was the highest-ranking African American in the automobile industry.

Roberts began his professional career working on an assembly line at Lear Siegler while attending Western Michigan University.

Roberts has also served in numerous volunteer and civic organizations. He is a member of the National Executive Board of the Boy Scouts of America (the organization's governing body)[http://www.scouting.org/filestore/media/324-168.pdf Boy Scouts of America Annual Report 2011] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121114024453/http://www.scouting.org/filestore/media/324-168.pdf |date=14 November 2012 }} a former president of the Boy Scouts of America{{cite web|url=http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_0199-2605986/Boy-Scouts-of-America-President.html |title=Boy Scouts of America President. (Speaking of People). | Goliath Business News |publisher=Goliath.ecnext.com |date=2003-02-01 |accessdate=2011-04-06}} and an officer in the NAACP.