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.[1] He is also a former managing director at Reliant Equity Investors.[2][3] From 2011 - 2013 he was the Detroit Public Schools' Emergency Financial Manager and board chairman of the Education Achievement Authority of Michigan.[3][4]
He is considered[according to whom?] 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."[5]
An August 1988 article published in The New York Times stated Roberts was the second African-American vice-president at GM, after Otis Smith.[6] For much of his career he was the highest-ranking African American in the automobile industry.[1]
Roberts began his professional career working on an assembly line at Lear Siegler while attending Western Michigan University.[1]
Roberts has also served in numerous volunteer and civic organizations.[2] He is a member of the National Executive Board of the Boy Scouts of America (the organization's governing body)[7] a former president of the Boy Scouts of America[8] and an officer in the NAACP.[2]