As CEO and sole owner of Mills Automotive Group, based in Charlotte, N.C., Damian Mills has plenty of reasons to be proud.
After all, Mills Automotive — the largest Black-owned dealership group in the country with a single principal, according to the National Association of Minority Automobile Dealers — operates 14 stores in Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina and West Virginia. Mills, 47, also was named Black Enterprise magazine's auto dealer of the year in 2019 and an Automotive News 40 Under 40 honoree in 2013.
But it's particularly telling that despite his business accomplishments, there's something he's even more proud of: In the last two years, two young Black employees mentored by Mills bought their first dealerships.