Notable Champions of Diversity

Throughout her career, Kathy Gilbert has followed her passion for advocating on behalf of women and minority groups in the automotive retail field.

At CDK Global, of Hoffman Estates, Ill., Gilbert leads a sales team that works with minority and female dealers across the country, both customers and prospects. She said there are about 1,500 minority dealers in the U.S., while female retailers number about 1,000. Her team leads CDK’s strategy to help minority and female dealers grow their businesses and stay abreast of changing technology.

Gilbert’s interest in helping female and minority dealers is woven throughout her 28-year career at CDK.

“That has always been a passion my entire life, especially in this career,” she said. “Within the automotive industry, you have a very small population of women, small population of minorities, and it has always been my goal to advocate on behalf of women and minorities.”

From 2016 to 2021, when Gilbert was president of the dealership management system provider’s Women’s Business Resource Group, the number of participating women in the group expanded. She has been involved with CDK’s diversity, equity and inclusion leadership efforts for more than two decades and is a founding board member of the Women in Automotive organization, which aims to bring more women into the industry and develop them into leaders.

In July, Gilbert launched a campaign in partnership with automakers, dealership technology vendors and other organizations to champion women in the industry. The goal is not just to increase recognition and representation, she said, but to help women run more profitable businesses and ensure they have an industry voice.

One of her biggest accomplishments, Gilbert said, is the Fueling Careers scholarship. CDK and the National Association of Minority Automobile Dealers teamed up to provide five $10,000 college scholarships annually to ethnic minority high school seniors. The eligible students are children of NAMAD-member dealership employees.

The program since has expanded to include an internship that provides real-world work experience at CDK.

“Over the course of my career, I’ve grown so much from the women I’ve interacted with,” Gilbert said. “What I try to do for other women is that exact thing, what I try to do for minorities is to let them know there is opportunity in automotive.”

— Lindsay VanHulle