One of Arizona’s longest-tenured female CEOs plans to retire
Kimberly McWaters, who rose from receptionist to become one of the longest-tenured female CEOs at a sizable Arizona corporation, plans to retire at the end of October.
McWaters, 55, said she will continue to serve on the board of Scottsdale-based Universal Technical Institute, which trains mechanics and other technicians, after Oct. 31. She joined the company 35 years ago.
Jerome Grant, the company’s executive vice president and chief operating officer, will succeed her as CEO.
“It has been a privilege to work for a purpose-driven company with so many talented people who have helped educate and graduate over 220,000 technicians,” McWaters said in a prepared statement. “Together, we grew this organization from a single automotive program in Arizona into the nation’s leading provider of technician training.”
She said the company is now “positioned for a new phase of profitable growth” after a recent transformation directed by Grant that reshaped the company’s marketing and other operations.
In recent years, Universal Technical Institute has struggled to attract students willing to pay tens of thousands of dollars in tuition at a time of plentiful job opportunities in other fields. Company revenues and enrollments have dropped for most of the past decade.
The company lost nearly $30 million on $324 million in revenue over its four most recent quarters.
“It has been a privilege to work for a purpose-driven company with so many talented people ...” Kimberly McWaters
Retiring CEO of Universal Technical Institute
Several years ago, McWaters was arguably the most prominent woman running the show at a sizable public corporation headquartered in Arizona, though that’s no longer the case.
For example, Sheryl Palmer and Julia Laulis oversee two much-larger Arizona-based companies — Taylor Morrison Home Corp. and Cable One, respectively.
In a prepared statement, Robert DeVincenzi, chairman of Universal Technical Institute, thanked McWaters for her many years of service and for her “careful stewardship of the company during one of the most challenging times the industry has faced.”
McWaters began as a receptionist in 1984 then was promoted to national admissions manager the following year, working up to various marketing and sales positions, eventually becoming the company’s president, CEO and chairman. Along the way, she earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Phoenix.
Prior to becoming chief operating officer, Grant spent more than two decades in executive leadership at Pearson Education and McGraw-Hill, launching McGraw-Hill’s higher-education services business and leading Pearson Higher Education’s digital product management group.
Universal Technical Institute has graduated more than 220,000 students over its 54-year history, including automotive, diesel, collision-repair, motorcycle and marine technicians.