40 Under 40

Park Place Dealerships has had a strong philanthropic presence in Texas for years. 

Anam Ali Hashambhai, the group’s director of marketing, wanted to go beyond just donating money.

The result was Park Place Cares, an overarching initiative that Hashambhai said houses Park Place’s community giving strategy as well as internal morale-building programs and team-building efforts. The organization, she said, “cultivated relationships and built partnerships to make the community a better place to live and work.”

Park Place Dealerships, with luxury-focused stores in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, was acquired by Asbury Automotive Group in 2020.

Park Place has underwritten two Habitat for Humanity homes, offered a $100,000 giveaway to nonprofits, and donated lunches to hospital workers, firefighters and police officers when the pandemic began in 2020.

Through Park Place Cares, the company determines “what organizations need direct volunteering efforts in order to help drive them, whether it’s volunteering time by making meals for Ronald McDonald House, or painting fences or planting at a retirement community or an underserved housing like a homeless shelter,” Hashambhai said. “What do we do, and how can we make sure we’re providing our members, which is our employees, opportunities to continuously put Park Place in the forefront of our community?”

Hashambhai grew up in Dallas, so she knew of Park Place when she applied for an internship with the group while it was recruiting at her school, Southern Methodist University. She worked her way up through the ranks and has since helped recruit other women to the company through its Women in Automotive program.

“The Women in Automotive committee finds opportunities, whether that is networking events, speaker series or events to activate and tell our story on how you can be successful in the automotive industry and be a female,” she said. 

Hashambhai said women from outside the industry can attend Park Place events so they can “get a glimpse into our story and company. Why not showcase who we are when we are in action [versus] telling people about the company and its values?” 

— Vince Bond Jr.