Media Relations
Press Release:
MEDIA
CONTACT :
Lisa
Metcalf
561-297-3022, lmetcalf@fau.edu
FAU’s College of
Business Honors Mike Jackson with 2011 Business Leader
of the Year Award
BOCA RATON, FL (November 1, 2010) - Florida
Atlantic University’s College of Business and presenting
sponsor, BankAtlantic, are hosting the 20
th annual Business Leader of the Year awards breakfast
on Friday, January 28, 2011 at the Boca Raton Resort & Club.
This year’s program celebrates the accomplishments of Mike
Jackson, AutoNation’s chairman and chief executive officer.
New this year, sponsorships for the event will assist the College
in launching the Business Leader Scholars program.
The Business Leader of the Year award celebrates the
accomplishments of business leaders and their ongoing legacy in
improving the overall business environment. According to FAU,
Jackson meets the criteria of this award, exhibiting traits which
measure effective leadership in business, including vision,
innovation and change, knowledge and experience, transparency and
integrity, and social responsibility.
Jackson joined AutoNation in 1999, serving as CEO and director of
the board. Prior to his arrival at AutoNation, Jackson worked at
Mercedes Benz where he reinvigorated the companies U.S sales. For
his role in reversing the company’s fortunes, Jackson
steadily moved up through Mercedes management ranks, and in 1997,
he was named president of Mercedes-Benz USA. Today, AutoNation is
the country’s largest automotive retailer selling over
400,000 units each year and servicing over 5 million vehicles. Even
during the economic recession, AutoNation, under Jackson’s
leadership, managed to post solid financial results.
Jackson
has
received numerous leadership awards including the Automotive Hall
of Fame in February 1994. The Hall of Fame’s President
Jeffrey Leetma said that Jackson’s “leadership at
AutoNation is significant not only in the sheer volumes of units
delivered but in raising the bar in all areas of the customer
experience.”
Sponsorship for the event includes a corporate table and event
admission at the Boca Raton Resort & Club. In addition,
sponsorships will launch the Business Leader Scholars
program. A portion of the sponsorship dollars raised from the
Business Leader of the Year awards event will provide financial
assistance to FAU students. The level of sponsorships for the
event will determine the number of scholarships awarded.
These one-time, expendable awards will be made using the following
criteria: a
warded
to students enrolled in the College of Business at FAU, who have a
minimum 3.25 GPA and demonstrate service leadership qualities.
Since 1991, FAU’s College of Business has presented the
Business Leader of the Year award program, honoring the work of
outstanding contributors to the overall business climate of the
southeast region of Florida and the state. Jackson joins
other highly honored recipients of the award, including Ronald
Assaf, Alexander Dreyfoos, Jim Moran, Wayne Huizenga, Carl
DeSantis, Bud Paxson, Jerry Levin, Pat Moran, Jeb Bush, Alan Levan,
Mike Maroone, Steve Odland and others.
For further information regarding the event, contact Kimberly Gramm
at 561-297-3628.
-FAU-
About Florida Atlantic University:
Florida Atlantic University opened its doors in 1964 as
the fifth public university in Florida. Today, the University
serves more than 28,000 undergraduate and graduate students on
seven campuses and sites. Building on its rich tradition as a
teaching university, with a world-class faculty, FAU hosts 10
colleges: the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts & Letters,
the College of Business, the College for Design and Social
Inquiry, the College of Education, the College of
Engineering & Computer Science, the Graduate College, the
Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College, the Charles E. Schmidt
College of Medicine, the Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing
and the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science. For more
information, visit
www.fau.edu.
