Executive Director of Automotive Sales Solutions, Lisa Walsh has worked in the automotive business since high school. She began her career in a dealership’s accounting department and continued working at the same dealership through college, moving up to the sales floor, then business manager, sales manager, general sales manager, general manager, and finally dealer principal.
Lisa and her husband purchased a Ford / Mazda dealership in Wisconsin and within three years turned an underperforming Ford store into the #2 volume dealership in the entire Chicago region. After purchasing another dealership in Georgia (this time Chevrolet), they sold both dealerships and stayed south.
While working for General Motors on the 4th floor of the MarketSource corporate office building, Lisa ran into a MarketSource team member. At that time, MarketSource was in the midst of building out an automotive segment and Lisa was hired to help with that initiative.
Twelve years later, Lisa leads our automotive segment.
Lisa is known for her tireless work ethic. “I want to be seen as the best at what I do…and I need to practice that every day,” she said. “We can’t live based on our past accomplishments.”
But Lisa doesn’t just view this as a job; she believes MarketSource gave her a second family. Perhaps that is one reason she pays the compassion forward through mentoring and coaching other women at MarketSource and in the automotive industry. “I want women to be able to reach for the stars in terms of the roles they aspire to,” she says. “It’s very gratifying to see the women I work with grow in their careers and live out their dreams.”
Lisa has mentored around 15 women and five men over the years. She particularly enjoys talking through ways to find work/life balance and providing a safe space to vent. “Everyone gets frustrated at various times trying to climb the career ladder,” she says. “Being able to vent to someone that provides constructive feedback is very helpful, in my experience.”
As for her favorite part about mentoring others? “Developing relationships and seeing them succeed!” Well done, Lisa. Sounds like you’ve accomplished this many times over.