Matthew Phillips is CEO of the Car Pros Automotive Group, and a well-respected automotive industry veteran, change management leader, franchise retail advocate and EV evangelist. Founded in 1993, Car Pros began as a small used car lot. Together, Matthew and his family built it from two employees into an automotive group with over 700 employees and nine stores in Western Washington and Southern California, representing Kia, Hyundai, Honda, BMW and MINI. Car Pros sells over 25,000 cars per year with annual sales of over $1 billion, and is currently the top Kia retailer in the United States, having retailed over 175,000 new Kia models. Matthew's personal journey of going from “lot to leadership” gives him a real-world perspective on how to build diverse, high-performance workplace cultures. His personal brand of metric-driven accountability is informed by his industry insight, depth of experience, and dynamic people skills. Matthew is a next-gen leader who brings in-the-trenches experience to his vision of changing lives and creating opportunity through excellence, as well as a powerful background in organizational psychology, financial management and business. He sits on several industry boards, including the Kia National Dealer Council, and currently serves as Vice President for the Washington State Auto Dealers Association (WSADA) and will become President in April 2024. Matthew was named one of Automotive News’ 2023 Notable Champions of Diversity, awarded the Silver Stevie® for Maverick of the Year in the 2023 American Business Awards®, and honored as one of Puget Sound Business Journal’s 11 Outstanding Voices, recognizing business leaders who have been advocates and voices for the LGBTQ+ community. His commentary has appeared in Automotive News, The Wall Street Journal, The Seattle Times, WardsAuto, Auto Remarketing, AARP, GeekWire, Dealer Marketing Magazine, and Dealer News Today. Matthew holds MBAs from Cornell University, NY, and Queen’s University, Ontario, an MA in Organizational Psychology from Teachers College, Columbia University, NY and an BA in Accounting from University of Puget Sound, Tacoma, WA. He is a graduate of the National Automobile Dealers Association’s Dealer Academy.