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Women in Remarketing: Sarah Amico
Auto Remarketing: What was your path to the automotive industry, and what do you enjoy most about working in the car business?
Sarah Amico: I suppose it was a little bit of destiny for me to work in automotive! My grandfather had worked in a GM plant as a janitor, my father worked in the Corvette plant while attending GMI and was sponsored by GM for his MBA at Harvard, so I grew up knowing that a lot of the opportunity I had in life was based on what the auto industry had provided for my family.
Our family eventually centered its businesses in the transportation and logistics world — transporting both heavy trucks and now cars, over the years. While I grew up in that world, I spent about eight years after I finished my MBA forging my own path in the media industry, focused on partnership structures, independent film finance and digital media seed capital, before joining the Board of Jack Cooper in 2011.
By 2014 I had joined Jack Cooper as a full-time executive and director, and in November of 2014 I was promoted to executive chairman of the board. I truly love being a part of one of the great American industries, and I especially love that we came into the auto industry logistics space in 2008-2009, saving thousands of jobs in the midst of the industry's turmoil.
I am proud that we are creating good-paying, American jobs supporting a pillar of the nation's economy (the automotive industry!), and that the jobs we create moving finished vehicles cannot be outsourced to a cheaper labor market.
AR: How is the remarketing/used-car segment of the business most different from when you first started out?
SA: When I joined Jack Cooper, our POV/remarketing/logistics business was literally brand new; it launched around the time I joined the board. The biggest change for us, therefore, is primarily how much the business has grown!
From an industry perspective, the volumes have certainly increased, as have the opportunities for technology to drive efficiency in the supply chain. It's an exciting moment for the industry — we are so close to seeing the development of "one-stop shopping" for remarketers and fleets, where they can inspect, process, transport and otherwise service POV vehicles in a truly streamlined and cost-effective way for remarketers. I love seeing how rapidly these technologies evolve!
AR: How would you describe your leadership style and approach to problem-solving?
SA: I'm a mom to a 4- and 6-year-old, so I think that — like most moms — I embrace pragmatic decision-making, careful consensus building and a healthy ability to adapt as circumstances change.
I like empowering my team to work independently, and love seeing them succeed and get to "show off" their wins to the senior leadership and board of the company! With my executive leadership team, we focus on robust debate and discussions — trying to look at each problem from EVERY available angle, and allowing people to both advocate (passionately) for their point of view and practice ACTIVE listening skills. I try to provide big picture, strategic perspective for how we are supporting the company's overall goals, as well as guidance on how I think we can be effective in implementing a solution, and then I turn the team loose to construct the creative solutions they think best meet the business' needs.
And most importantly, I try to make sure everyone gets credit for their efforts and visibility to the most senior levels of the company when they contribute to problem- solving. Watching my team members take a metaphorical "bow" in front of the board or CEO is one of the greatest feelings of a job well done!
AR: What have been some of the top keys to your success in the car business?
SA: We have five core values, and I truly believe we owe all of our success to them (and to the kind of team members they lead us to have at the company):
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Integrity: Being honest with ourselves, our colleagues, our customers, our investors and all of our stakeholders is a critical part of our culture; no one can succeed at Jack Cooper (or perhaps more generally!) Without it.
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Excellence: We expect people to give 110 percent and focus on skill mastery and quality service; this provides a better service to our customers, a safer workplace for our employees, and a better return for investors.
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Innovation and imagination: We are an 89-year-old industrials/trucking company, but that doesn't mean we leave our creativity at the door on the way into work; we innovate — constantly — and try to reimagine our business both to face today's market challenges and to meet tomorrow's evolving needs.
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Responsibility: To all of our stakeholders, from employees, to customers, to investors, to the communities where we live and work, we try to make sure Jack Cooper is a company that acts responsibly and makes a positive impact on our people and the communities where we live and work.
- Longevity: We've been a family owned business since 1928, with five generations of two families who have run the business; this gives us a lot of perspective, so when we say we make decisions for the long-term, we mean it — and we expect our management teams to do the same.
We call this our "Zoe Strategy," because when my niece (Zoe) who is 7 years old, is in the work place 20 years from now, we still want to be a family held business, guided by these five values. So we make decisions for the Zoe time horizon, even when that isn't the easiest, or even most profitable, path forward.
AR: Who are some folks, whether in the auto industry or not, that you admire professionally, and why?
SA: Without a doubt, Mary Barra is the first name to come to mind. Being the first female CEO of a major American OEM is amazing, but the fact that she is a brilliant, capable, experienced leader makes her even more special. As both a woman leading a company in a predominantly male industry, AND the mother to two young engineering-minded little girls, I am so grateful to have Mary Barra as a role model. I love that my girls will grow up thinking OF COURSE a woman can be the CEO of GM. They won't even understand why that was ever in doubt.
In the general world of business, I don't know how you can beat the example set by Walt Disney! As he once said, it's hard to believe "that it all started with a mouse!" I love that he endeavored to do the seemingly impossible, and nearly always succeeded beyond anyone's wildest expectations.
I love the joy and hope and imagination he continues to inspire in people around the globe, long after his death — now, that's a legacy. I love that he knew EXACTLY what his vision was for his business, and exactly HOW he wanted it to work, and then he just set about making it happen. "It's kind of fun to do the impossible!" He once said, and indeed it is.
I think his secret was partly that his dreams were only limited by his imagination — which was seemingly limitless, and partly that he saw setbacks as purely temporary. He once said, "I believe that this frightfulness we see everywhere today is only temporary," and if I can live out my career by that mantra alone, I think I will have done good work. It's no wonder that his company today continues to operate, in part, based on plans he outlined during his lifetime.
Also, I admire leaders who have a defined set of principles and are willing to stick to them, even when things are tough. In the political world, many people would probably be surprised to hear I admire both former Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama for exactly this reason! It's easy to stick to your principles when everyone supports you, or when they are in fashion, but when the chips are down you really see the gap between someone's values (true, core values) and the luxuries of character that are ultimately disposable.
I also admired both of these men for the clear priority they put on their family and family relationships. If they can maintain family as a priority — as President of the United States — then surely work-life balance is achievable for the mere mortals among us!
AR: When you are able to get away from the office or work, what do you enjoy? What are your hobbies, interests, etc.?
SA: I sing and take music lessons weekly; music moves me and gives me a creative outlet, and I love that my kids are old enough that they've started dropping in to my lessons and singing every now and then. I have a weekly Bible study with my pastor, his wife and a dozen other women from our church, which is a pretty in-depth study of scripture and theology, and I also find that keeps me centered and focused on how my personal and professional lives can be purpose-driven.
It's wonderful to pop up from the trees of day-to-day parenting or professional issues, and just stand in awe of the proverbial "forest", to know that we are a part of something so much bigger — infinitely bigger — than whatever the challenge of the day is. I love having time to study and share God's word, and to celebrate the amazing grace I've experienced in my life.
And I'm also a politics/policy nerd, so I love reading the news and catching up on important issues that matter to me, particularly in terms of serving populations in need in my community. My favorite indulgence on the weekend is curling up with a cup of tea and the Sunday New York Times.
Through both our Jack Cooper Volunteer Day that I started, and in my downtime, I am passionate about making sure that people, especially children, have every opportunity possible to live up to their God-given potential. Whether it's the local foster home, summer lunch program for kids suffering food insecurity, volunteering at our local no-kill animal shelter, or finding ways Jack Cooper can hire more veterans, I am committed to having a positive impact on our community.
