2021 Notable Military Veterans

Military branch: Marines

Rank: Corporal 

David Green enlisted with the Marines at age 17 in 1987 and deployed to the Middle East during the Gulf War, serving in Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm.

When he left the military in 1991, Green said, he landed a job selling cars the next day. That was the beginning of a 24-year career in auto retail. 

Green said he found the dealership performance-based environment fitting with the work ethic he developed in the military. Before he joined vehicle listings company TrueCar Inc. in 2015, he was managing partner of Showcase Honda in Phoenix, a job he transitioned out of when billionaire Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. purchased Van Tuyl Group, which owned the store.

Green, now TrueCar’s senior vice president of major accounts and military business strategy, helped spin up a new auto-buying program, TrueCar Military, last year after the company learned USAA Federal Savings Bank planned to end its 13-year partnership and exit the car-buying space.

TrueCar executives say the new program, geared specifically to service members, veterans and their families, will allow it to reach a larger group of military customers than it could through the USAA partnership. That collaboration comprised about 30 percent of vehicles sold to buyers who connected through TrueCar’s network.

The company is “very, very positive and very bullish” on growing TrueCar Military, Green said.

“Whether you’re a veteran, active duty, a reservist or immediate family, our goal is to be that name of choice,” he said.

— Lindsay VanHulle