Shane Morinville just celebrated 20 years of success at Lithia Motors, spending the last nine years at the Missoula location. He also just finished his term as MTADA group dealership director and served on the legislative committee.
We recently had the opportunity to talk with Shane about his time serving on the board, his advice for incoming board members and his experiences in the industry. We enjoyed getting to know more about Shane and want to thank him for his time. The following are excerpts from our conversation.
How long have you been a member of MTADA, and why did you get involved?
I’ve been in Montana for nine years. The Lithia Auto Group has been a member during that time and well before that. Before I joined the MTADA board, my colleague, Austin Saylor, served on the board. He spoke highly of his interactions with the other board members. Additionally, the purpose and mission of MTADA align well with our company, and Austin thought I would be a good fit on the board. So, he encouraged me to pursue it.
Around the same time, Bruce reached out to me. Because I’m part of Lithia, he thought having somebody from a larger company represented on the board would be nice. There are benefits of being a big company like Lithia — we can sometimes see changes or issues in other markets so we can proactively make adjustments. There are independent dealers serving on the board who bring a lot to the table, but they’re also juggling the realities of running a business. We bring a different yet equally as important view to the table. Having different voices and viewpoints is what makes MTADA so powerful.
What did you gain from your time as a board member?
The camaraderie and getting to know people in the industry was great. The opportunity to interact with folks you normally wouldn’t have was probably the biggest thing that stood out. It’s a huge benefit I am taking away from this experience. Now, when I have questions, I know who to call. It happens all the time, and I’m extremely thankful for that. And vice versa, people will call me and ask for advice. I wouldn’t have expected that until this experience.
What advice do you have for incoming board members?
Know the things not to do. Not making the appropriate time for the board commitment can be a problem. There were times I would get busy and procrastinate some of the conversations I needed to have. I advise that, even if it feels like it could slightly affect your day-to-day, think of the bigger picture as much as you possibly can. Down the line, those conversations can help accomplish a lot.
If you can squeeze in the time to commit to a more significant interaction, you’ll be pleasantly surprised at how much it will pay dividends in the future. I have received a lot of good feedback and ideas from other board members.
About Shane
Shane grew up in Minnesota on his family’s farm. Growing up as a farm boy was a good upbringing, and Shane learned the value of a hard day’s work from his father. But Shane did not want to follow in his father’s footsteps. He knew he wanted a different career.
Attending college in Moorhead, Minnesota, Shane graduated with a degree in sales and marketing. Shortly after that, he moved to Denver and started selling cars at John Elway Pontiac Buick GMC Subaru. “The plan was to sell cars until I could find what I wanted to do in sales and marketing,” Shane recalled. “But when it came down to it, I fell in love with the car business.”
When Shane started in the industry, he had a business card in his wallet that said, “Watch and learn. Then do it better than anybody else.” It was a daily reminder to him to always do his best. Over the years, he has worked in many positions in the dealership. “I love the fact that the car dealership is basically its own ecosystem,” he said. “It has a little bit of everything — business, finance and marketing to service, parts and inventory — and I wholeheartedly enjoy that.”
During Shane’s time in Denver, his boss, Jim Sterk, became a mentor and invested his time to help Shane further his career in the industry. When Jim was offered a job with Lithia, he asked if Shane would be interested in joining him. “I was the only one that he took with him to Boise, Idaho. I held that pretty dear. He invested in me, and I invested back right,” Shane said.
While in Boise, Shane worked in finance and was the used car manager, new car manager and general sales manager. He learned what it takes to manage people and teams. “As a leader, I have certain things that I say often,” he said. “Not one person’s bigger than the team, and that includes me.” He continued, “You won’t get a ‘No’ to a ‘Yes’ without a ‘Maybe’ in between. There are going to be objections, and in order to make it beneficial for the consumer, we have to figure out how to bridge that gap. Consumers look to us for a reason and we need to figure out how to bridge that gap.”
Always striving to grow the individual and strengthen his overall team paid off. The Lithia leadership team approached him more than once and asked him to consider running his own store. “I was pretty comfortable where I was,” Shane said. “The locations they offered weren’t places I really wanted to go.”
Then, one day, the regional vice president of Lithia called Shane and told him, “We really want to invest in you. Where is it that you want to go?” Shane remembered driving through Missoula many times while on family vacations and heading to visit his wife’s family, who lived in the Washington Tri-Cities area. And Missoula was a place where he could see his family putting roots down. Lithia got the ball rolling and purchased a dealership in Missoula that was for sale. Shane moved his family to Big Sky Country, and the rest is history.
After nine years of being general manager of Lithia Ford of Missoula, Shane has no regrets. His years of experience, in-depth industry knowledge and drive to always do better have served him well. “My employees know that I’ll jump in and help out regardless of the position,” Shane said. “I’ve been there, done that. I wouldn’t ask anybody to do something I wouldn’t do myself.”
“Overall, It’s been a really good experience. We’ve had some hiccups, but we’ve also had a lot of success,” Shane said. “I have many good memories and met a lot of great people. The community is fantastic, and living in Montana has been a wonderful experience for me and my family. It’s been a blessing.”
