Women become drivers in the automobile industry

BREAKING BARRIERS: Honda Village in Newton has not one, but two, female managers: Donna Divenuti (left), Collision Body Shop Manager, and Nancy Harris, Office Manager. Honda Village

By Paul Kenney

June 11, 2016

4 minutes to read

When the cigarette brand Virginia Slims was introduced in 1968, its target audience was young professional women using the catchy slogan: “You’ve come a long way, baby.’’

That phrase is certainly true of the automobile business, where over the last twenty-plus years women have made tremendous inroads into a once male-dominated industry. In fact, many customers say they prefer to work with a woman, whether it be in sales, repairs, or maintenance.

Exhibit A is the Honda Village dealership in Newton, one of the nine dealerships owned by Ray Ciccolo, head of the Village Automotive Group.

Three women currently hold prominent titles at the store: Nancy Harris is an office manager who has been with the dealership for the past 15 years; Donna DiVenuti has been with the company 11 years and has run the body shop for the last three; and Karen Vayo has been in charge of the parts department for the past year. Peg Walsh directs the parts department at Village Auto’s Volvo dealership located in Hingham.

Ciccolo says he values women. He has three daughters and no sons. One of them, daughter Christine, was the previous GM at the Honda dealership. “I give each gender equal weight when I’m hiring someone. That way you double the hiring pool.’’

There is a nomadic aspect to the automotive world, and moving around from dealership to dealership in search of the right fit is common in the four-wheel business. “We all bounce around,’’ says Peg Walsh, who stumbled into her parts career through a summer job. Walsh now manages a parts inventory with an average monthly outflow of several hundred thousand dollars.

As automobile technology evolves, seemingly at a speed of light, Walsh stays informed by reading Volvo bulletins and websites. “People enjoy speaking with a women,’’ says Walsh, “Maybe we explain things more clearly, and probably with a little more patience.’’

Donna DiVenuti got her start fixing cars by accident. Eighteen years ago, the then 21-year-old mother was in the middle of Boston’s Sumner Tunnel with a sick baby, when her car broke down. “I wrote ‘Please Don’t Tow’ on a piece of paper and left it on the dashboard. I also had my resume on the front seat,’’ she recalls.

“I got the baby to the doctor, but when I returned to get my car, of course, it was towed. I went over to East Boston to get it, a 1988 Mercury, and the guy who owned a small car business approached me and said, ‘I see you are looking for a job. Well, I need an office manager.’’’

After a time managing the office, DiVenuti decided to get her hands dirty by helping out on the body shop floor, ultimately working her way into the position she holds today.

“I went from doing all the crappy work to the position I have now. I got nothing handed to me; I worked my way up,’’ says DiVenuti, whose customers have followed her from dealership to dealership.

When Nancy Harris started as an office manager at a dealership, there was no respect. “I felt invisible’’, she recalls. “The constant refrain was ‘you don’t make money for the dealership,’ so your voice doesn’t count. Here I feel respected. People listened to me. It’s a real family feeling here, and I’m the happiest I’ve ever been. Plus we have a great leader in our general manager, Carl Pasquarosa.’’

Karen Vayo thought about law school, initially, but found her way to the parts department when she took over the job from her brother. “It’s a nurturing environment, but it can be kind of tough because I do get tested on my knowledge,’’ she says.

The Village Group is not the only dealership to discover the power of women. At Herb Chambers BMW and Mini store of Boston, Melissa Steffy—who happens to be the owner’s niece—is also general manager. Obviously, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, because Steffy’s BMW sales are the best in New England. She currently manages a combined staff of 183 employees.

Like most of the women interviewed, Steffy has followed a circuitous path in automobile industry. She worked as an advertising copy writer, but once she was exposed to the car business, she took to it straightaway.

A WOMAN AS GM: That’s the case at the BMW and Mini store of Boston, where Melissa Steffy brings a stylish look to the brand.

“I started in 1987, and fell completely in love with cars,’’ says Steffy, who took over the BMW store in 2002. “It’s so much fun; you’re fulfilling fantasies for people. And I’m absolutely crazy over BMW and Mini. The car business for women is the best-kept secret. It’s an incredible industry, and if women dive in, they can do very well financially.’’

Steffy’s claim is verified by the organizational flow chart of the BMW, Mini dealership which is chock full of women in positions of authority, including both sales managers, a business manager, and a comptroller.

Maybe that vintage advertising slogan of nearly a half-century ago should have focused on cars: “Indeed, you’ve come a long way, baby.’’