Leader Building Successful Customer Focused Teams

As the Senior Director of Commercial Sales for the Ready Logistics brand at Cox Automotive, Jane Gitere leads a team responsible for moving thousands of vehicles all over the country for major automobile manufacturers, large financial institutions and major dealers.

Her leadership, insight, and drive have been instrumental in the brand’s ability to grow, scaling from 30,000 to 150,000 vehicles per month. She is known for her auto industry knowledge and has a reputation as a leader who gets the job done.

Gitere’s colleagues say her unique leadership style allows her to keep her team focused on the customers, stay on track and moving forward. She launched her career as a client specialist with Manheim Auctions in 2006 and quickly moved up the ranks. Her ability to lead through influence rapidly propelled her to a supervisor position. Guiding and leading her team through industry changes and ever growing customer. When the time came for Manheim to transition Ready Auto Transport from a small startup to one of the world’s largest vehicles logistics companies, Gitere’s name was at the top of the list and led to a Directors’ role at Manheim.

Gitere believes the most important quality a woman leader should have is authenticity. “Being true to what you believe in makes you progressive, relevant and confident,” she said. “Stay true to yourself and your work; it always pays off.”

She said the move from an individual contributor to a manager, with the responsibility of leading and motivating others, was her biggest career leap. “I learned it can be challenging but rewarding at the same time. Patience, being present, and getting buy-in from team members helps build strong successful teams,” she said.

Gitere is also active in her community including but not limited to preparing food at the Ronald MacDonald House, swinging a hammer for Habitat for Humanity and volunteering at United Food Bank among others.

Her advice to others is to seek great mentors early on and to stop and celebrate success often. She holds a degree in International Business Administration from United States International University.

Words she lives by: “Do not give up on your dreams.”