I’m continuing to lead an effort across our company to help drive representation in our industry. So, you have about 1200 minority dealers, auto car dealers, out of 40,000 in the universe 1200. And of that, 246 are black. I have a CEO who is very driven and wants to make sure that representation is there. We were really committed to doing the real work, so we started a partnership. This goes back to the importance of relationship building. I worked with the President of the National Association of Minority Auto Dealers, Damon Lester, to build a program where cars.com helps to drive minority-owned dealerships through supplying education sessions.
We had over 200 dealers in our trial. In the Q4 trial, we gave them our solutions and our technology to really help them bolster their business and compete in the marketplace. To minority-owned dealerships, there are really unique challenges. We want them to start off the year up and not down. I’ve loved leading the charge around driving representation in auto and providing those skills, education sessions, and solutions to help minority-owned dealerships compete and thrive.
We look at it from a company perspective. Our HR team has done a phenomenal job with making sure that we’re hitting metrics and we’re recruiting a diverse slate of candidates. We have Black Employees United, our employee resource group. We went and did some community cleanups, and it’s becoming a community guard. It’s about doing the work. It’s about what those actionable steps are. I work in one of the most diverse companies in the auto industry. 40% of the leadership team at Cars.com identifies as a minority. I am really proud that I sit where I sit and can help drive these efforts. I am lucky to have a leadership team that is committed and understands that diversity is important. Without it, the culture is not there.
