Education: B.A., mathematics, Dartmouth College; M.B.A., Stanford Graduate School of Business

First automotive job: Advised automotive clients at McKinsey & Co., Los Angeles

Proudest achievement: "I'm enormously proud of what we've built at CarsDirect. In the nine months I've been here, we've doubled sales and we've maintained great customer service. We won an industry award (top Internet Auto Buying site for summer 2000, from Gomez Advisors Inc., a reviewer of e-commerce sites. CarsDirect was cited for, among other things, its "dominating" customer service.). Everyone here is real proud of that. It's the proof of creating a great car-buying experience."

On being successful: "I've been fortunate in my career to find myself on excellent teams with strong colleagues, and CarsDirect is a good example of that. Earlier, I was fortunate at McKinsey to have been mentored by people and brought along by people."

On being a woman in the industry: "CarsDirect is less male-dominated than the rest of the automotive industry. Our chief technical officer and our general counsel are women. I think I'm in a different position than some of the other women in your edition. I have not found my gender to be a big issue."

Career highlights:

• 1999 Entrepreneur-in-residence, idealab!, Pasadena, Calif.
• 1988-99 Principal, McKinsey & Co., management consultants, Los Angeles
• 1984-86 Research Associate, Booz, Allen & Hamilton, consultants, New York