Carrying On a Family Tradition, with Mary Cole, General Manager of EchoPark Birmingham

Many of us can recall watching our parents devote each day to a career they are passionate about. We often celebrate milestone achievements with them, like promotions and retirement, and? think, “What will I be when I grow up?” Sometimes, we end up treading the same path as our parents and carrying on an incredible legacy. This is the story of Mary Cole, General Manager at EchoPark Birmingham.

Mary grew up in upstate New York, where her father owned a small ”mom and pop” dealership in downtown Syracuse, run by himself and a single mechanic. What began as a lesson of grit and determination soon became a lifelong career and the honor of being part of the next generation of automotive innovators.

Born with Drive

Mary shared that the family rule was that if you weren’t playing sports or attending a club after school, you had an obligation to serve the family business. Throughout her childhood and teens, Mary had hands-on experience in every aspect of the dealership. Not only was she helping to grow her family’s business, but it also taught her and her siblings how to manage their finances. When it was time to choose a path after graduation, Mary set her sights on studying accounting at the State University of New York (SUNY) Geneseo.

Mary was born with drive and competitiveness, skills she most likely inherited from her entrepreneurial father. She also knew the importance of education, a lesson she learned from her mother, who was a teacher. During the weekends and holiday breaks, Mary would come home to Syracuse and help her family sell cars. When Mary would return to school, she often thought about her career. Did she want to go behind a desk and crunch numbers, or did she want to connect with customers all day? Mary was nearly finished with her credit requirements and was crushing her accounting classes, but something didn’t feel right. Her parents urged her to finish her degree and reminded her of all the doors an education can open.

After graduation, Mary’s career path felt even more uncertain; she felt the pressure to pursue an accounting degree but knew her heart was in the automotive business. Mary ultimately took time to travel and think about her future in the industry.

Shifting Gears

With a new lens on the world, Mary was ready to dip her toes into the automotive business and pursue a dealership beyond her family’s “mom and pop.” In 2016, Mary officially entered the automotive industry as a salesperson at a local dealership. Her knowledge of cars was vast, and her understanding of the dealership business model put her ahead of many other salespeople. Mary’s work ethic stood out, and leadership sent her to finance school to focus on automotive accounting principles. Within a couple of years, Mary went from salesperson to finance manager.

When the pandemic hit, Mary was uncertain about her career path. To her surprise, her dealership consolidated with another local store and became part of EchoPark Automotive, a subsidiary of Sonic Automotive. Shortly after, Mary was promoted to head of sales. Although she had just started her career, Mary had almost as much experience in the automotive business as her time on earth! Mary credits much of her growth and success to her general manager at the time, who gave her the confidence to be a leader.

When her general manager left the dealership, Mary felt a calling to reach out to Sanjay Prakash, Director of Sales Operation at EchoPark, Jeff Matthew, Divisional Vice President at EchoPark, and Tim Keen, Chief Operating Officer at EchoPark, to ask for the interim general manager position. With a new opportunity in her hands and a tough market, Mary was up for the task. She recalls those first six months as general manager as one of the most challenging moments in her career so far, but she will never forget the support the Sonic and EchoPark team gave her in her new leadership role and as the strategic business decision was made to close the dealership.

Headed South

As they say, when one door closes, another tends to open. After the EchoPark New York dealership closed, Mary was offered the opportunity to be the general manager at EchoPark Birmingham. A million scenarios raced through Mary’s head as she thought through her decision. Was she going to leave her family behind in New York? She had never lived anywhere else. Would she miss the changing of the seasons? Mary thought she had made up her mind and turned down the job; however, Mary knew she had made a huge mistake when the call ended.

Mary thought about how she would kick off each day by coaching her sales team to “get uncomfortable and make hard choices.” Although Alabama was not in her original plan, Mary knew she was destined to lead and influence a passionate team. Within four weeks, Mary packed her house, two dogs, and two cats into a U-Haul and headed South.

The Best Has Just Begun

In September 2024, Mary celebrated one year in Alabama, which she called “the best decision [she] had ever made.” The big move and her new career taught her incredibly valuable lessons, such as not being afraid to fail and settling into the uncomfortable.

As a founding member of Sonic’s first-ever women mentoring group, Women’s Leadership Program, Mary shares how vital it was to call up a fellow founding member and bounce ideas off one another. When asked about her experience in the program, Mary shared she was constantly inspired by the traits of her fellow founding members and the impact they have made at our company.

Mary describes her leadership style as a combination of all the traits she admires from teammates like Sanjay Prakash; Geremy Smith, Regional Sales Director at EchoPark; Maren McGrane, Vice President of Communication, Culture, and Strategic Initiatives; Mai Nguyen, Founding Member of the Women’s Leadership Program and Brand Vice President, Lexus; Bethann Roberts, executive coach; and Christie Rogers, Founding Member of the Women’s Leadership Program and General Manager of EchoPark Dallas.

As a general manager, Mary lives by the principle of “check yourself at the door, and be the energy and enthusiasm in the room. You have to be the culture.” She prides herself on making EchoPark Birmingham a place where every teammate gets comfortable with the uncomfortable and feels confident to pursue greatness.