Denise Gray

Corporate Board Member and Industry Advisor; Former HEAD OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS AND GOVERNMENT RELATIONS, North America, LG Energy Solution

Ambassador · 2019 Lifetime Achievement Award Winner

Denise Gray is the Former Head of External Affairs and Government Relations, North America, of LG Energy Solution, a lithium-ion battery producer headquartered in South Korea. She has also served as President and Board of Director Member for the Tech Center of the company’s U.S.-based subsidiary, LG Energy Solution Michigan, Inc. In that role, her team developed battery solutions for automotive and non-automotive applications. She had overall responsibility for strategic direction, engineering, and business development.

Prior to her LG positions, Gray served as Vice President of Electrification Powertrain Engineering at AVL List, GmbH, in Austria, where she was responsible for leveraging AVL’s global capability to provide electrification engineering services to the automotive industry. Prior to that, Gray was Vice President of Business Development for an electrified powertrain battery startup company in California; in this position, she targeted China’s new energy vehicle market. The majority of her 30-year professional career was spent at General Motors, where she spearheaded efforts in vehicle electrical and powertrain systems controls and software, including battery systems.

Gray is active in several charitable organizations; for example, she served as the North American International Auto Show Charity Preview Chair for the March of Dimes in 2016, 2017, and 2018.

She also holds several board of director, membership, and advisory positions: Member of the U.S. Secretary of Energy Advisory Board; Member of the U.S. Joint Office of Energy and Transportation Electric Vehicle Working Group; Member of The National Academy of Engineering; Member of the Board on Energy and Environmental Systems of The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine; Canadian National Railway Board of Director Member; Cheniere Energy Board of Director Member; Liminal Insights Strategic Advisor; and Qnovo Strategic Advisor.

Gray has been a proponent of the academic disciplines of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and a frequent participant at STEM events including a member of Kettering University College of Engineering Dean Advisory Council. Her strong support of the STEM curriculum played a role in her receiving the 2017 Women of Color Technologist of the Year Award, which recognizes the exceptional achievements of distinguished multicultural women who excel in STEM. She also received the C3E Lifetime Achievement Award in 2019, was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2022, and was a 2023 Michigan Chronicle “Women of Excellence” Honoree. Gray holds a MS in Engineering Management of Technology from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a BS in Electrical Engineering from Kettering University.