Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
AutoNation CEO gets industry honor
CEO to enter Hall of Fame
Mike Jackson, chairman, CEO and president of Fort Lauderdalebased AutoNation, is being inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame. In January, Jackson also was named chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank in Atlanta.
Add one more title to Mike Jackson’s resume.
The chairman, CEO and president of Fort Lauderdale-based AutoNation is being inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame, the Michigan-based organization announced Wednesday.
Jackson, one of five new members to be inducted in July, has “created a customer-focused, transparent and contemporary business model for automotive retailing,” the Hall of Fame’s news release says. AutoNation has been the largest automotive retailer for 19 consecutive years, selling nearly 12 million vehicles — it is the only retailer to have accomplished that feat, according to the Hall of Fame.
Last week at AutoNation’s annual meeting, Mike Jackson retained his three leadership roles at the company. Stockholders voted against a shareholder proposal requiring that the chairperson be an independent board member.
In January, Jackson also was named chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank in Atlanta. He presides over the bank’s board, which recommends changes in the discount rate, the interest rate for lending to other banks.
The other Hall of Fame inductees will be: Ray and Tom Magliozzi, co-hosts of the NPR weekly radio show “Car Talk;” Frank Stronach, founder of Magna International, one of the largest automotive suppliers in the world; and Kiichiro Toyoda, the Japanese entrepreneur whose decision to expand his father’s company, Toyoda Automatic Loom Works, into automobile manufacturing led to the creation of Toyota Motor Corp.
Some of the new members are being honored posthumously. Tom Magliozzi, who was known with his brother as the “Click and Clack the Tappet Brothers,” died at 77 in 2014. Toyoda died in 1952.
The 2018 Automotive Hall of Fame Induction & Awards Gala Ceremony are scheduled for July 19 at the MGM Grand Detroit.
The Automotive Hall of Fame tells the stories of those who have made outstanding contributions to the automotive industry, and has honored nearly 800 men and women from around the world.
In 2005, South Florida entrepreneur Jim Moran was inducted into the Hall of Fame. Moran founded the Toyota distribution and automotive-related business JM Family Enterprises in Deerfield Beach; he died in 2007.