Locally-based Fortune 500 company AutoNation names Cheryl Miller its first woman CEO

Miller becomes first woman CEO of AutoNation

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – America's largest auto retailer has made some company history.

Fort Lauderdale-based AutoNation, with more than 300 locations across the country, just named Cheryl Miller its first woman CEO.

Miller was AutoNation's chief financial officer before the company decided to make a change.

Now Miller oversees 26,000 employees and 325 locations from coast to coast. 

It's a position that can provide some stressful situations, and Miller has ways to cope with that.

"I'm a runner, so it's nice to have outlets," she explained "I'm also a scuba diver. Just finding ways to relax in the middle of it while making sure that every day we are driving our business forward, so I don't worry about stress."

Miller keeps teamwork as a key concept at AutoNation, especially when it comes to their Drive Pink program. 

"Everybody wants to be a part of something bigger and so for us, that bigger has been Drive Pink, our cancer initiative, and we've raised over $20 million to support driving out cancer," she said. 

Being a woman in a male dominated industry is never easy, but Miller points out that times are changing. 

"Automotive is changing and it continues to evolve," she said. "We've got more women in the business we have more millennials in the business and a lot of the great people of AutoNation have created diverse culture and it's something we continue to strive for."

Perhaps now, more than ever, women across the globe are creating change and letting their voices be heard. It's a process Miller would love to see continue to advance. 

"Dream big," she said. "There are no limits in life and just because no one has been in the spot before or you don't see people that look like [you, it] doesn't mean that [it] can't be you."

AutoNation is a Fortune 500 company that prides itself on being an industry leader, keeping standards high for all employees. 

"There's a lot of great businesses out there that serve the customer well every day, so I want to make sure that we continually earn our customers business every day," she said. "We're always out there learning what's new, what customers like, [moving] mobility forward on behalf of the customer."


About the Author
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Nicole Perez is the the primary co-anchor of Local 10 News at 4 p.m., 5 p.m., 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. She first joined Local 10 in July 2016 as the morning traffic reporter.

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