Automotive News - November 9, 2015 - Supplement - 105W

20151109-Sup1--0105-NAT-CCI-AN_--

11/4/2015

8:49 AM

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NOVEMBER 9, 2015 * 105W

L E A D I N G

W O M E N

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CHERYL MILLER

autonews.com/millervideo

BIRGIT BEHRENDT
Vice President, Global Programs and Purchasing
Operations | Ford Motor Co. | Dearborn, Mich. |
Age: 56 | Education: Business degree,
Administration and Business Academy,
Cologne, Germany
● What attracted you to the auto industry? I always
enjoyed playing with cars. I had Matchbox cars. I liked to
open and close and to drive them. Ford's one of the
larger employers in Cologne so we always were
surrounded by a car factory. But we were also
surrounded by Bayer - they do aspirin - and I wasn't
attracted to that as a child. When I started to work at
Ford I would have thought it to not be such a long
career. It took me not long to find out that Ford was
such a big, global company that you could do everything
you would ever think of doing inside the company.
● First automotive job: In 1978, I was a commercial
apprentice, which was a very common German way of
starting in the business life, before you go to university.
Basically, you get vocational training as well as training
on the job. I ended up with being initially an
administrative assistant - organizing office work and
doing translation. Obviously speaking a second language
was a key qualification that I needed at the time. My
English teacher at the time said to me, "Oh, Birgit,
you're going to go far. I see you on the 12th floor." I
think he meant as a secretary. He never meant as a vice
president.
● Big break: My first buying job. I was actually the
second female buyer in Ford of Germany. Getting as far
as that relatively early in my career and being basically,

"

"

>> HAVING HER SAY:

●

early on. You need to continue to look at pay plans
Executive Vice President and CFO | AutoNation |
relative to other retail pay structure. When people are
Fort Lauderdale, Fla. | Age: 43 | Education:
supporting families, I do think women and millennials
B.B.A., finance, James Madison University
look at [commission-based plans] differently. In terms of
stability, security, you can argue risk taking. But people
● What attracted you to the auto industry? The size of
look at that differently than they did in the past.
the industry, the relative opportunities and the pace of
● Tell us about your family. I was born in Puerto Rico.
the industry. I started my career at Circuit City. CarMax
My mom is Puerto Rican. I'm from a big Puerto Rican
was a wholly owned subsidiary, so it was one of the
family and a big Irish family on my dad's side. My
business lines I did work on. I would spend part of my
wedding is a good example: You put together the Irish
day raising capital for Circuit City's credit card portfolio,
and the Puerto Ricans, and you have a sudden dance
and then I would spend the other part of my time
party. My husband is very flexible and open-minded. We
helping set up CarMax's funding.
met late in life and neither had been
● First automotive job: My first full-time
married before. He likes cars. He's been
automotive job was in 1998 as a
supportive about the obligations the job
"When people
structured finance analyst for AutoNation
entails as well as benefits of the job. It's
Financial Services.
are supporting
important to have a partner who
● Big break: Returning to AutoNation in
understands, irrespective of which person
families,
I
do
2009 as treasurer after being treasurer of
and which gender is doing what.
JM Family Enterprises.
think women and ● What's your favorite weekend activity?
● What is the major challenge you've
millennials look
Scuba diving. I try to go every two or three
faced in your career? Keeping a corporate
weeks in the summer. I just finished my
at [commissionand board view and marrying that with the
rescue diver course. I got certified around
fact that we have 25,000 people. You
based plans]
2000. It's so different. It's nice to be off
have to be able to meet with board
the grid. It's relaxing. It's not a natural
differently."
members and then you have to be able to
place for people to be, so it's nice just to
go in and shake hands with people on the
be able to zone out and see some
parts and service side of the business with credibility
amazing things that you would never be able to see on
and understand the issues and the implications of
land.
decisions you make on the business and on the
● Are you able to maintain friendships? Yes. My
customer. It's balancing: You can sit in a building all day
maid of honor has been my best friend since we were in
and never see a customer, so the biggest challenge is
kindergarten. She's a counterterrorism attorney, and her
how do you put it all together to serve your customers
father was the officiant at my wedding (in May).
and your owners.
● Name one thing about yourself that most people
● Who has had the biggest influence on your career?
don't know. I did track and field in high school, including
One would be (AutoNation CEO) Mike Jackson, who is a
the discus. I was decent at the discus and the hurdles
big supporter of women, of people. He expects great
for a while. Some people don't know I'm Puerto Rican.
performance. He doesn't care what your gender or
That's what hair color does for that.
background is. It's been the ability to watch him take
● When and where was your last vacation? My
complex issues and boil them down into succinct,
honeymoon in May to Ireland and Scotland. In Ireland,
actionable items and strategies. Then tactically there
we did go see the town where our family was from:
was the former CFO of JM Family, Mark Walter, who is
Lombardstown. What surprised me was the people in
excellent at people development.
Ireland like to meet and talk to people who are coming
● What should be done to encourage women to enter
to see where they're from.
the auto industry? Earlier recruiting, more college-based
- Amy Wilson
or first job recruiting to introduce people to the industry

●

if you will, a pioneer, it was a great testimonial that Ford
was not letting gender get in the way, that they value
diversity and nurture key talent.
● Who has had the biggest influence on your career? It
was probably my first mentor. It wasn't a formal mentor.
It was the person I worked for at the time when I was an
admin, and I was thinking about going back to evening
university and he really encouraged me because he saw
something in me, just by the way that I was taking an
interest in the business. It was that person that was the
reason that I actually pulled through in evening
university. It's nothing I recommend because it takes a
lot of resilience and a lot of discipline. But I didn't want
to disappoint that person who had encouraged me to
go. Four years of evening school after a full-time job is
something that has taught me a lot and prepared me for
my future life.
● What should be done to encourage women to enter
the auto industry? We need to start really, really early
encouraging women to not just seek out the traditional
careers. When I was starting my education,
unfortunately, nobody encouraged me to seek out an
engineering degree. A large degree of our resources and
employees are in product development and
manufacturing, so if you really want to benefit from the
breadth of all the career possibilities that Ford can offer,
then an engineering degree, plus an MBA, is probably
the best way to allow that to happen and keep yourself
flexible.
● Tell us about your family. I have great support in my
husband, Norbert. I'm here for the second time on an
international service assignment, and he's happily
joined me every time.

The rest of my family is in Germany.
● What's your favorite weekend activity? I love
boating. It's something that we adopted here in
Michigan. I love the water. That's one way to relax over
the weekend if we have the time. I love the outdoors. I
used to ride a motorcycle, but not here. Your roads are
not as nice as the roads in Germany. But your
waterways are exceptionally nice. In the summer. I'm
not so fond of your Michigan winters.
● What's your guilty pleasure? I do enjoy going out for
dinner. I love exploring great restaurants.
- Nick Bunkley
http://www.autonews.com/millervideo
Automotive News - November 9, 2015 - Supplement

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