Bashar Cholagh

Stellantis

Head of Supplier Diversity & Communication Purchasing

Bashar Cholagh is the Head of Supplier Diversity Development and Purchasing Communications at Stellantis (formerly Fiat Chrysler Automobiles – FCA). In this role Bashar partners with minority, women, veteran, LGBTQ, and disability certified businesses to create opportunities for procurement and to further progress FCA Supplier Diversity. In 2021, under his leadership the Stellantis Supplier Diversity program was ranked #8 out of 1,800 USA based companies by Diversity Inc.

After spending the last many years supporting dealer network diversity, Bashar has driven an increase of 37 new minority owned dealerships across the FCA dealer network. This represented a 30% growth in FCA dealer diversity, and is the highest growth among all OEM’s during that time. Bashar is also founder and president of Stellantis Middle Eastern Employee Resource Group. Bashar serves on the board of directors of National Minority Supplier Development Council, Michigan Minority Supplier Development Council, Billion Dollar Roundtable, Great Lakes Women’s Business Council, Michigan Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, and is Chairman of the Board for the Veteran Owner Business Round Table.

Bashar has worked in the automotive industry for the last 20 years, and has worked for analytics consulting firms (Urban Science, and I.H.S. Automotive) as well OEM’s (VW/Audi, and FCA). Through his career he’s held strategic planning roles focused on Sales, Marketing, and Customer Experience.

Bashar holds a BS in Computer Science, as well as an MBA from Wayne State University in Detroit.

In 2017, Bashar was recognized by Automotive News as a “Rising Leadership Star” for Automotive Leaders under the age of 40; and in 2021 was also recognized by Automotive News as a “Notable Champion for Diversity”