Digital Dealer - December 2017 - 27

In the following interview, Katie
discusses her unusual journey from
fashion retail to automotive retail
and talks about the similarities
between the two retail markets. She
also talks about the electric vehicle
market and shares her insights on
creating balance between work and
home.

I WANT TO THANK YOU
FOR TAKING TIME TO TALK
WITH US ABOUT BOWMAN
CHEVROLET AND THE RETAIL
AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY,
KATIE. COULD YOU START
BY FILLING US IN ON YOUR
BACKGROUND?

If you had asked me 30 years
ago after college if I was going to
be a car dealer, I would have said
no. Because right out of college, I
had the goal of being in the retail
fashion industry, and I was lucky
enough to land my dream job
working for Ralph Lauren, the Polo
Corporation, in New York City.
I also worked for Ralph Lauren
in Sydney, Australia. There was
a lot of excitement involved in
that industry. I had always been
passionate about clothing retail and
fashion. So, both my parents encouraged me to follow my dreams.
It was a really wonderful experience. But then I realized I missed
home, I missed Michigan, the Midwest, so I came back to Michigan
and continued to work for Ralph
Lauren in Michigan. But it wasn't
quite as exciting as other aspects I
had done. My dad said the car business is retail, too, so why don't you
come work for me? I thought, okay,
I'll give it a try. Not really thinking
I would stay on that path, I had
always been curious about what my
dad did, so I came to work for him
at Bowman Chevrolet in 1993 and
fell in love with it. I think it took
me about six months and I saw all

the challenges. It was retail and
elements of it reminded me of my
fashion career. It was very customer-service focused, which is what
the Ralph Lauren Polo Corporation
was all about. They were early
adopters of being customer-focused
as a company, back in the eighties
and nineties. I was surprised to
find so many parallels and ways in
which I could use my experience in
the fashion industry to pull over to
automotive retailing.

WHEN DID YOU BECOME
DEALER PRINCIPAL AND
WHICH JOBS DID YOU LEARN
ALONG THE WAY?

I became Dealer Principal in
2011. My dad was smart. He had
me work in every department in every job. I drove the parts truck and
worked the parts counter. I wrote
service orders. I answered the
phones-on and off-for probably
ten years, especially during times
when we were between receptionists. I worked in the accounting
office and on the sales floor, in the
finance and insurance department.
I sold cars. I did everything. I really
covered the whole store and I'm
so glad I did, because I learned so
much from each job and had an appreciation for what happens every
day. It takes every single employee
to keep the dealership running.
My view is that no one job is better than another. If we didn't have
the porters doing their job, the
people who are cleaning the cars,
the sales people can't sell the cars
they tell customers they're going to
deliver. It really takes everyone.
After about five years at the
dealership, I became the Operations Manager and managed most
of the day-to-day workings of the
dealership. Simultaneously, I went
back to school and earned my master's degree in finance from Walsh

College. My dad hated the title
General Manager, so after about
five years as Operations Manager,
I was named Vice President and
performed the duties of a general
manager. I served as Vice President
for eight years before becoming the
Dealer Principal.

ANY ADVICE TO SHARE
WITH OTHER FEMALES
CONSIDERING AN
AUTOMOTIVE RETAIL
CAREER?

Early on I realized there were
many women at General Motors
in leadership positions. I would
take the opportunity whenever I
went to industry events to seek out
these women and ask them about
their experiences, especially if they
had children and how they created
their work-life balance. I found
the women were very forthcoming and willing to share tips that
had worked for them. I also think
there are lots of industry clubs and
organizations to go to for advice.
For instance, GM has the Women's
Retail Network and that group has
played an important role for me in
learning how to be a better dealer.
Getting together with other women
owners is a great way to get ideas
on being a dealer, whether you're
a woman or not, and on balancing
your work and your home life every
day.

YOU RECENTLY ADDED
NEARLY TWO ACRES TO
YOUR STORE'S FOOTPRINT.
HOW DO YOU PLAN TO USE
THE ADDITIONAL SPACE?

Quite frankly, we could use triple
that amount of space because we've
grown quite a bit since I took over
in 2011. We've had double-digit
growth every year since 2011, in
new-car sales, used and service.
We really needed the space and it's

D I G I TA L D E A L E R . C O M

Continued on pg. 28
DECEMBER 2017

27
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