A first-generation college graduate, Alicia Boler Davis completed a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering at Northwestern University, followed by a master's degree in engineering science at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. She joined General Motors in 1994 as a manufacturing engineer, becoming the first black woman to become a plant manager at the Michigan Orion Assembly facility. She was appointed senior vice president for global customer experience in 2013 and was a part of the Forbes Most Powerful Women Next Gen Summit in 2014.

Boler Davis was promoted to executive vice president of global manufacturing in 2016, leading 180,000 employees. In 2016, she was appointed to serve on the board of directors at General Mills, and in 2017, joined the board of Beaumont Health. She became the sixth woman to be named Black Engineer of the Year in 2018, was included in the 2013 Fortune magazine top 10 most powerful women in the automotive industry, and was named the 2016 Trumpet Awards Corporate Executive of the Year. In 2019, Boler Davis joined Amazon as vice president of global customer fulfillment.