TIME AND ALLY FINANCIAL HONOR MURRAY DEALER
Karen Gail Miller Wins National Recognition for Community Service and Industry Accomplishments at NADA Convention
(New York, NY, November 16, 2011) – The nomination of Karen Gail Miller, owner of Larry H. Miller Toyota Murray in Murray, Utah, for the 2012 TIME Dealer of the Year award was announced today by TIME.
Miller is one of a select group of dealers from across the country who will be honored at the 95th annual National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) Convention & Exposition in Las Vegas on February 4, 2012. The announcement of this year’s nominees was made by Kim Kelleher, worldwide publisher of TIME, and Tim Russi, executive vice president, North American Operations, for Ally Financial.
“Auto dealers have a tremendous impact on the vitality and strength of communities across the U.S.,” said Russi. “Ally is proud to support these extraordinary dealers who are truly making their communities better places to live and work.” As part of its support for the program, Ally will make charitable contributions to local community causes on behalf of all 50 nominated dealers across the United States. In addition, the 2012 national TIME Dealer of the Year winner will receive a $10,000 contribution for a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization of his or her choice. To celebrate the valuable contributions of dealers across the U.S., Ally has also launched a digital hub (allybizhero.com) featuring engaging content celebrating auto dealers and their philanthropic achievements.
The TIME Dealer of the Year award is one of the automobile industry’s most prestigious and highly coveted honors. Recipients are among the nation’s most successful auto dealers who must also demonstrate a long-standing commitment to community service. Miller, 68, was chosen to represent the New Car Dealers of Utah in the national competition – one of only 50 auto dealers, from 17,000 nationwide, nominated for the 43rd annual award. The award is sponsored by TIME Magazine in association with Ally, and in cooperation with NADA. A panel of faculty members from the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan selects one finalist from each of the four NADA regions and one national Dealer of the Year.
“All of the awards that I have received were possible because of the success of our companies that began with a single Toyota dealership in Murray, Utah,” says nominee Miller. “We now provide meaningful work to more than 4,000 full-time and more than 3,000 part-time employees in 16 states.”
Miller is a Salt Lake City native who graduated from West High School in 1962 and attended the University of Utah. She worked at Mountain Bell Phone Company as an information officer and service assistant manager before moving with her husband, Larry H., and their family to Colorado so her husband could pursue a career in the automotive industry in 1970. He worked his way up from parts manager to operations manager for five Toyota dealerships. In 1979, they returned to Salt Lake City to launch their own business, and Larry H. Miller Toyota in Murray, Utah, was born. Today, the Larry H. Miller Group of Companies operates 18 different automotive brands under 44 dealerships in seven western states.
“From its start as a single-dealership operation, the business has grown over the past 32 years into one of the largest privately owned group of companies in the nation,” says Miller who, following Larry’s death in 2009 and prior, has played a significant role in the success and development of the business. Her children also work in various aspects of the company, which includes the Utah Jazz basketball team, Fanzz sports apparel and Megaplex Theatres.
Miller has received numerous awards and honors for her philanthropic work, including an Honorary Doctorate from Salt Lake Community College; Outstanding Women in Scouting from Boy Scouts of America, Great Salt Lake Council, and Most Influential Sports Figure in Utah from The Salt Lake Tribune. She is most proud of the Co-Entrepreneur of the Decade award she received in 2010 from Mountain West Capital Network because, she says, “the entire Larry H. Miller Group of Companies and its 77 core businesses were founded on the premise of free enterprise and entrepreneurship.”
As trustor of the Larry H. and Gail Miller Family Foundation, she oversees an organization that benefits religious, scientific, literary and educational initiatives within the U.S. In addition, Larry H. Miller Charities is a nonprofit foundation, supporting children’s health and education programs, and the Larry H. Miller Education Project promotes effective teaching and learning by offering intensive professional development seminars for Utah’s teachers and supplemental programs for students.
Miller believes in giving back to her employees, too. “An additional benefit we are able to provide to all fulltime employees who have been with the company for more than two years is college tuition and books for their children so that they can earn their undergraduate degrees and become productive members of society,” she explains. “Over the past 15 years, we have assisted more than 3,000 students.”
Nominated for the TIME Dealer of the Year Award by Craig Bickmore, executive director of the New Car Dealers of Utah, Miller, whose husband Larry passed away, has five children and 24 grandchildren.