Automotive News - October 21, 2013 - Supplement - S6

6 ❙ OCTOBER 21, 2013
B O B R O S S A U T O G R O U P, D AY T O N , O H I O

Second-generation dealer Jenell Ross
is driven to find a breast cancer cure
Printed in Automotive News Nov. 12, 2012
Arlena Sawyers
asawyers@crain.com

few minutes before 8 a.m., the
clouds in the October sky hint at a
downpour any second. But auto
dealer Jenell Ross and her team
of some 200 friends, family members and
dealership employees aren't about to let the
threatening weather dampen their spirits.
They are among 10,000 people preparing to
walk through downtown Dayton to raise
money for the American Cancer Society's efforts in breast cancer research and education.
Ross, like other car dealers, would have a
full schedule without spending time on
charity. She's the president of her familyowned dealership group,
with stores in a market
that's still recovering
from the recession. She is
also chairwoman-elect of
the American International Automobile Dealers Association. But this
charity effort is dear to
Ross: $40,000- Ross' heart. In 2010, her
plus raised
mother, Norma Ross,
then CEO of the Bob Ross
Auto Group in suburban Dayton, died of
breast cancer.
"Mom was on the American Cancer Society Board, so we were a supporter even prior
to her death," says Ross, 42, clad in a pink
pullover and black slacks. She is standing
under a small tent and behind a table
stacked with caps, T-shirts, pullovers, and
pins. "We want to continue her legacy in
terms of finding a cure. The walk is just one
of the ways we are able to do that."
Ross, a second-generation dealer, became
the group's dealer principal in 1997 at age 27
when her father, Robert Ross Sr., died. She
operated the business with her mother until
Norma Ross died.
Ross and her brother, Robert Jr., who is
vice president of fixed operations, manage
Bob Ross Buick-GMC and Mercedes-Benz
of Centerville, started by their father, and
Bob Ross Fiat, added in 2011. Her father was
the first black Mercedes-Benz dealer in the
United States.

Jenell Ross, Bob Ross Auto Group president, and friends walk in Dayton, Ohio, to raise money
for the American Cancer Society's breast cancer efforts. Ross lost her mom to breast cancer.
Jenell Ross has been active with local and
national dealer groups for 15 years. In 2001,
she joined the AIADA board, representing
Mercedes-Benz. She will take over the reins
of the group in 2013, becoming the second
woman and first black dealer to hold the top
position.
Already, she's one of the association's
most outspoken dealers on the issue of repealing the estate tax. In April 2005, she testified before a congressional Subcommittee
on Tax, Finance and Exports, saying that
when her father died, Ross' family received a
federal tax bill of "hundreds of thousands of
dollars."
Losing her mom meant the family had to
deal with the estate tax twice, she says.
"Working with AIADA to eliminate the death
tax and what it can do to families and small
businesses is something of importance to
me," Ross says.
Despite the chill in the air on this October
day, though, members of the "Norma Ross
Pink Ribbon Driven" team, many wearing
pink pullovers identical to Ross', are
pumped. As the start time nears, the crowd
near Ross' tent thickens. Some walkers
browse the stacks of T-shirts, hats and other
souvenirs for sale while others stand in line
for free pink bracelets. Sale proceeds will be
donated to the Norma J. Ross Foundation,

which benefits local youth in education and
the fine arts.
Ross poses for photos with members of
her team. Then she yells, "Is everybody
ready?" She leads the crowd through downtown Dayton past the State of Ohio Korean
War Memorial and around mud puddles in
Island MetroPark.
In 2010, Ross and her team of 30 walkers
raised $12,000 for the American Cancer Society. In 2011, that grew to 50 walkers and
$23,000. This year, she decided to pick up
the pace.
Her goddaughters came up with the "Pink
Ribbon Driven" slogan, and her advertising
agency created a special logo: the familiar
pink ribbon icon with line markings that
mimic a road, threaded through a steering
wheel. Ross decorated the exteriors of her
stores with pink vinyl wrap and "Pink Ribbon Driven" logos. She wrapped a Fiat in
pink and white.
After the walk, the Ross team packs up.
Only a couple of T-shirts are left. The free
bracelets are long gone. The sun shines
brightly; rain never fell.
Pledges are still coming in, but the tally by
early November shows that the Norma Ross
team raised more than $40,000. Even without a final tally, Ross says, the event "was
worth every minute." c

Automotive News - October 21, 2013 - Supplement

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