As a part of our ongoing series, we highlight exceptional women in the industry. There is a misconception that the auto industry is only for men, and it is time to break this stereotype. 

The best way to encourage women to explore career opportunities in auto retail is by highlighting the success stories of women who have made it in the industry. In this edition of Montana Auto Dealer, we are featuring Lynn Rogers, general manager at Tilleman Motor Company in Havre, Montana. 

We recently sat down with Lynn and talked about her career, her experiences in the industry and what can be done to encourage others to choose this career path. The following are excerpts from our conversation.

Please tell us about yourself.

I was born and raised in Miles City, Montana. My husband, Joe, and I have eight grown children: Daniel, Jessica, Kayla and RaeAnn, Alisha, Susanna, Josey and Jamie. We also are blessed with the joy of three grandchildren. We spend most of our time with them and our family of Shitzus. My favorite downtime is enjoying the peace and quiet of fishing! 

How did you get into the auto industry? What did your career path look like?

In 1995, I was hired by Donna Smith and Kenny Makelky of Mac’s Frontierland, in Miles City as a part-time temp to answer phones and greet customers. The job was only supposed to last a few weeks while they did a dealer management software system conversion. 

Five years later, I was still there. I never left. Dealerships have an exciting environment, and I thrived in it. In those five years, the owners allowed me to grow into every role that I wanted to take on. I went from answering phones and greeting customers to running all aspects of the office. 

I learned three valuable lessons from the Makelkys: In this business, you must be a tree (willing to bend), never say, “I don’t know” (let me find out and get back to you), and never say, “It’s not my job!” Those lessons served me well growing into my career!

A life change led us to relocate our family to Bozeman, Montana, in 2000. We left Miles City on Aug. 1, 2000, and I went to work for the Ford dealership in Bozeman on Aug. 7. I left my husband with five children, a U-Haul to unpack, and a new home to set up and ran off to my first day of my new job. 

My husband Joe is a huge reason for my success. He took on the majority of the home role, being instrumental in raising the kids over the years, allowing me to be focused on my career. My family has always been supportive of my career despite the time it sometimes took from them.

David Wallin of Bozeman Ford had hired me despite there really being no open position for me. It was an interesting transition; I left one Ford dealership knowing exactly what my job roles and duties were and walked into another Ford dealership not knowing what I would do. Fortunately, the office staff was going on vacation, so I was able to cover everybody’s vacation for about the first month or two. But eventually, they all came back to work, and I was struggling — I was not sure what I was doing there. 

Around that same time, Firestone recalled 6.5 million tires, and we were struggling to handle the customer needs and demand of such a significant recall. I dedicated myself to bridging a gap between a local retailer and our dealership and created a process that was literally seamless for customers. I found the experience more than rewarding as I was able to ease customers’ stress and earned high levels of customer satisfaction.

When Ford Motor Company launched its Blue Oval Program, I again raised my hand and volunteered to implement the process for Customer Relations and the Sales and Service departments. Our dealership successfully earned our badging over the course of the years the program existed!

A customer relations department was created because of the success of both the Firestone recall and the Blue Oval rollout. The dealership was in the process of building a new facility, and I found myself with now my own office and working directly under the service department manager. 

A couple of years passed, and the service department manager announced his resignation. He came to me and said, “Lynn, I think you need to be the new service manager.” I remember thinking that I didn’t know anything about cars, let alone fixing them, and this seemed like a terrible idea. They were persistent, and I decided to take on the challenge of managing a service department and immersing myself in Fixed Operations until the dealership was sold in 2021. It was exhilarating to consistently overcome objections and perceptions that a woman was atypical of this sort of job role.

After it sold, I stepped away from the dealership world for a while. I went to work for the county doing accounting and payroll. It was quite a change of pace — running day in and day out, all day long to sitting still at a computer. It was bizarre to me, but the Monday through Friday, 8-5, had its benefits. It allowed me to spend a lot more time with my husband, a luxury I hadn’t had before. 

But the dealership world came calling, and I found myself coming to work for Tilleman Motor Co. as now a General Manager. As I now work on developing this new job role, it feels really good to be back in the industry. It’s my niche. It’s what I know. It’s what I thrive on. 

As a woman, you are in the minority; what are your thoughts about the auto industry as a career path for women? What’s your experience been like? What can be done to hire more women?

I do feel the automotive industry should be given credit because it has made a concerted effort to overcome the male‑dominated environment. 

There are now a number of women CEOs, women dealership owners, women in general management, sales management and so on. There are even successful women in automotive manufacturing and engineering now. There has been a concerted effort to overcome the stigmatism that “It’s just a man’s world.” We must continue to push for change and encourage them not to be intimidated by the industry itself. I would propose we need to add more focus on approaching young women to explore technician careers.

For those of us working in dealerships, we need to be mindful of fostering an environment where women can succeed, allowing them to grow and come up through the ranks. I was fortunate to have worked for owners who promoted and encouraged my career path!

What do you love about the industry?

I love everything about the industry. I love that I get up on a daily basis, and no two days are the same. The industry is constantly evolving on a daily basis — if not hourly — and it’s never stagnant. It can be challenging to keep up with, but there’s so much opportunity for growth and knowledge. 

One of the biggest caveats that I contribute to my success is having ownership of who I want to be, where I want to go and the ability to grow into different positions. It makes a huge difference, and you will find an environment unlike that in other industries.

What advice would you pass on to someone entering the auto industry?

Don’t be afraid. Don’t be intimidated. If there’s anything I can offer, it’s just to embrace it. You’re not going to know everything there is to know. You will find there are dealership cultures intent on empowering and encouraging women to strive for success and offering environments for so much opportunity and growth.