Kenneth Morris
Senior Vice President of Product Programs, Product Safety, Vehicle Integration, and Motorsports with General Motors
Get to know Ken
From four-wheeling to the Nürburgring, Ken Morris is at home behind the wheel
Ken Morris is at home on virtually anything with four wheels, whether it’s mowing grass with his John Deere tractors or logging laps on the famous Nürburgring Nordschleife motorsports complex in Germany.
“I love being able to go to the tracks, especially Nürburgring,” said Morris, who has GM’s highest driving certification and has logged more than 1,800 laps at Nürburgring. “It’s one of the most special places in my life. I love it there.”
Since January 2024, Morris has served as Senior Vice President of Product Programs, Product Safety, Vehicle Integration, and Motorsports. It’s a job that spans some of the most important aspects of vehicle development.
- Global Product Program: This group oversees the vehicle and propulsion programs from inception to launch and beyond
- Product Safety, Systems and Certification: This team is responsible for vehicle safety performance, field investigations, systems engineering, program validation, and safety and emissions certification
- Vehicle Integration: This group includes the development engineers who execute the vehicle dynamics, noise and vibration, fuel economy and virtual vehicle development, and manages the proving grounds and test labs
- Motorsports Competition Organization: This team develops and implements performance and strategy tools to assist GM branded teams in their success on the racetrack
And while a leadership role requires attending a lot of meetings, Morris makes sure to devote as much time as he can at GM’s historic Milford Proving Ground.
“I love our products,” he said. “Driving them, evaluating them, talking about them.”
Morris’ passion sprang from his upbringing on a farm in Indiana.
“I was interested in technical things, the things we would do around the farm,” he said.
That interest led him to Purdue University, where he received a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering. In 1989, GM hired Morris as a design release engineer, after which he moved to Milford as a development engineer.
Morris estimates he has spent more than half his career at Milford in various roles. Today, he leads a global organization responsible for developing electric, autonomous and internal combustion engine vehicles.
“I think we are in the greatest industry in the world,” he said.
