Maryann Keller was an American automotive

industry analyst An industry analyst performs primary and secondary market research within an industry such as information technology, consulting or insurance. Analysts assess sector trends, create segment taxonomies, size markets, prepare forecasts, and develop in ...

and author. Keller covered the auto industry as a

Wall Street Wall Street is a street in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs eight city blocks between Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway in the west and South Street (Manhattan), South Str ...

analyst from the 1970s until the 1990s. She was last the principal at Maryann Keller & Associates, an automotive consultancy firm she founded in 2001. She died on June 16, 2022, at the age of 78.

Personal life

Maryann Keller, née Katula, grew up in

Perth Amboy, New Jersey Perth Amboy is a city (New Jersey), city in northeastern Middlesex County, New Jersey, Middlesex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, within the New York metropolitan area, New York Metro Area. As of the 2020 United States census, the city' ...

. Her parents were Henry Katula, a factory hand at National Lead Company, and his wife, Helen, a nurse. Keller married Jay Chai a former vice-chairman and CEO of the Japanese trading company

Itochu is a Japanese corporation based in Umeda, Kita-ku, Osaka and Aoyama, Minato, Tokyo, Aoyama, Minato, Tokyo. It is one of the largest Japanese ''sogo shosha'' (general trading and investment companies) distinguished by the strength of its textil ...

in 1984. Maryann and Jay have three children.

Education

Keller attended

Rutgers University Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's C ...

, where she obtained a bachelor's degree in chemistry.

Career

Keller became an auto analyst in the 1970s and according to the ''New York Times'' was "the first woman to be an auto analyst" in the United States. In 1989 she published ''Rude Awakening; The Rise, Fall and Struggle to Recover at General Motors'' which predicted the rise of Japanese automakers to the detriment of the Detroit three. The book won the Eccles Prize for Economic Literature from Columbia University. After leaving her position as a Wall Street analyst in 1999, Keller managed Priceline.com's automotive division and later started her own

consultancy A consultant (from "to deliberate") is a professional (also known as ''expert'', ''specialist'', see variations of meaning below) who provides advice or services in an area of specialization (generally to medium or large-size corporations). Con ...

company in 2001.

Publications

* 1989 ''Rude Awakening; The Rise, Fall and Struggle to Recover at General Motors'' * 1993, "Collision: GM, Toyota, and Volkswagen and the Race to Own the Twenty-first Century."

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Keller, Maryann 1943 births Living people People from Perth Amboy, New Jersey American business executives American women in business Technical analysts Rutgers University alumni Baruch College alumni