Automotive News - November 9, 2015 - Supplement - 68W

20151109-Sup1--0068-NAT-CCI-AN_--

11/2/2015

12:08 PM

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68W * NOVEMBER 9, 2015

L E A D I N G

W O M E N

●●●

COREY HAIRE
Regional Vice President and
General Manager | CarMax |
Richmond, Va. | Age: 41 |
Education: Attended
University of Central Florida
● What attracted you to the auto
industry? I was going to school to
be a teacher. I ran afterschool
programs for the YMCA and the
Boys Club. CarMax, when it first
started, had its own child care
centers. You could shop for your
car and drop your child off to play
in the kids area. CarMax

●

advertised in the newspaper for a
child care coordinator, which is
what I was doing at the YMCA.
When I found out what the job was,
I told them I'm going to school to
be a teacher, I don't really baby-sit.
Then they told me about the
company and said we have other
great opportunities.
I really had no intention of being in
the car business when I was in
college. And when I started with
CarMax, I had no intention of being
there 19 years later. I just happily
ended up here.

● First automotive job: In 1996, I
started in business operations,
which is titling, financing and all
the back end of the business. The
title was cash office administrator.
● Big break: I started in business
operations and ultimately ran my
own department. After I did that for
a number of years, I was able to
move to the director level in 2002.
There were 17 different stores in
the region, and each store had a
business office. The senior
managers in the business offices
of each of those stores reported to
me.
● What is the major challenge
you've faced in your career? I'm

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Technology with Vision

tasked with making sure that all my
store managers execute the same
way and provide the same
customer experience the same
way, every single time.
● Who has had the biggest
influence on your career? Fred
Wilson. He's the first person to
really challenge me and give me
some really direct criticism. He was
executive vice president of store
administration. He was the first
real visionary that I worked for. He
was great at saying, "This is where
we need to go." I'd question, from
a tactic standpoint, how are we
going to do that? He'd look at me
and say, "That's your job to figure
that out."
● What should be done to
encourage women to enter the
auto industry? From afar, a lot of
people see the auto industry as
male dominated, and it has been
for many, many years. For me, as a
female, I connect more on an
emotional level. I see lives get
changed every day - a single mom
who can't get her kids to school,
and she gets financed to buy a car.
There's a human element. When
we hear words like "dealerships"
and "auto industry," we don't think
about the stories behind the cars,
the first-time car buyers or the
parents buying their child a car to
go off to college. I don't think we
talk about the auto industry like
that, so it doesn't connect with
women on that level.
● Tell us about your family. I've
been married to my first and only
husband for 15 years. We have
three children, all boys, 14, 13 and
10. And we have three dogs. My
husband is a stay-at-home dad for
almost 14 years now. He was a
stay-at-home dad when it wasn't
the cool thing to do.
● What's your favorite weekend
activity? We camp a lot. We go
down to the river and the lakes,
nearby, and hang out by the
campfire and sometimes go out on
the boat.
● Name one thing about yourself
that most people don't know. My
dad took me to get my driver's
license on my 16th birthday, and
he said, "We're going to get you a
car." My car was a 1982 Pontiac
Firebird. It had no hood, no rims on
the front tires. It didn't run; we had
to tow it. He said, "We're going to
repair it." At the time, I wasn't too
excited about it, but it was
definitely fun. It took us about six
months.
● If you could have dinner with
anyone, living or dead, who would
it be? Tony Dungy. I admire that he
built a plan when he was the coach
for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers,
and he ran that plan even though it
didn't pay off originally. But he
knew it was the right plan, and he
kept running it. It did pay off for the
team, and they were able to win
the Super Bowl. He's also
somebody who has had a lot of
personal adversity in his life, and
he gives back a lot.
● What's your guilty pleasure?
Sitting by a campfire drinking my
chardonnay out of a plastic wine
glass.
● Name one talent you wish you
had. If I could play a guitar, that
would be really cool.
- Arlena Sawyers
http://www.hellausa.com
Automotive News - November 9, 2015 - Supplement

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