exception. Delivery drivers become parts wholesalers. Warehouse staff become assistant parts managers, then managers. Deal auditors and billing clerks in the corporate office grow into junior accounting managers, then run the books for their own stores. On the technical side, apprentices become Senior Master technicians and team leaders.And leadership? It’s homegrown. Dean Myslinski started in a co-op with Wake Tech in 1980, became a shop foreman at 24—over technicians twice his age—and now runs one of the largest service operations in the region. “Hard work, worth it,” he says. “We built the bench.” Loyalty goes both ways.“When we lose an employee, Mr. Michael feels like we’ve let that person down,” Lumley says.“Even if they left for a great chance, we ask what we could have done better.” WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT: THREE STRONG PIPELINES When it comes to workforce initiatives Capital Auto Group has driven success. notes that the workforce question is addressed in three primary ways that included Apprenticeships with Wake Tech Community College (and beyond). Capital’s partnership with Wake Tech—one of the nation’s largest community colleges—runs deep, especially through Ford ASSET.The group is already sponsoring five ASSET students for next year, months before the cohort fills. “Competitors ask how that’s possible,” Myslinski says. “It’s years of showing up, funding programs, hiring events, and delivering careers that last.” The state also funds accounting apprenticeships, which the group taps to grow corporate finance talent while apprentices complete their degrees. As a second workforce approach, after a set tenure, corporate employees can pursue a bachelor’s or master’s at Strayer University tuition-free while they work. The result: a steady stream of motivated people earning credentials and promotions in house. Thirdly, Capital Auto Group focuses on military recruitment. Ronnie highlights that North Carolina is a military state—Fort Liberty (Bragg), Camp Lejeune, Pope AFB—and Capital has a dedicated recruiter cultivating relationships on base and through the SkillBridge/transition ecosystem. “We love hiring military talent,” Lumley says. “They know teams. They know standards. They want a mission.” THE RESULT: PEOPLE WHO STAY—AND GROW Tenure isn’t nostalgia here; it’s capacity. It’s why 31 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 12, ISSUE 11 CAPITAL AUTO GROUP
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