Ask Patty was behind the scenes playing sleuth at National Automobile
Dealers Association, bringing you all the news from the dealer side. During the conference, Tracy Shields Jones, president of Century Automotive Group, was named the 2007 Time Magazine Quality Dealer of the Year.
Shields
Jones is a third-generation dealer who as a child would watch her
grandfather and father and say, “I want to be just like them.”
Ironically, her father tried to discourage her from entering the
automobile business. But after she graduated from the University of
Alabama and became a CPA, her father hired her as a comptroller for his
Huntsville dealership. After her father’s retirement in 1993, she
became president of the company.
Aside
from running a business, Shields Jones has raised more than $10 million
for breast cancer research for the Susan G. Komen Foundation. She is
equally involved in the Huntsville Hospital Foundation, United Way, the
Children’s Advocacy Center, American Diabetes Center, the Alzheimer’s
Associate, and American Cancer Society, as well as Huntsville Museum of
Art and the Huntsville Symphony Orchestra. “In the grand scheme of
things, I guess I have always viewed my role as not just a car dealer,”
she says. “I just happen to like cars.”
With her husband of 20
years, George G. Jones, at her side, Shields Jones says she is
fortunate as well to be able to work with her husband (the stores’
general manager) every day.
Shields Jones says she is the
“luckiest girl in the world” for being recognized by her peers. “I’m
shocked, humbled, and honored.”
This was the 38th annual award sponsored and presented by Time Magazine in association with the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co.
Check out the video of the presentation here.