Veteran South Carolina dealer to focus on dealer education and celebrating women in the industry.
Darla Booher, owner of Deal Depot in Greer, South Carolina, was installed today as NIADA president during the Annual Membership Meeting at the NIADA Convention.
Booher, who is celebrating her 25th year owning her dealership, began her automotive career working at a franchise dealership, which sent her to several classes to pick up knowledge about the industry. Booher eventually moved into the independent space, working with two other buy-here pay-here dealers before opening her own dealership as a leap of faith.
“I just decided to rent a building and get started, and hope everything fell in place, and thank God everything did,” Booher said.
Though she faced some challenges when she started her business shortly after September 11, 2001, she points to being able to lean on members of the industry, including her state association, Carolinas IADA, for education and encouragement.
“I’ve made so many amazing friends and friendships that have helped me through every step of the way, and have encouraged me, and I believe I’ve encouraged them,” Booher said.
Booher was named the NIADA National Quality Dealer of the Year in 2015.
Stepping into leadership, Booher was driven by a desire to make a meaningful difference. In her years of service, Booher has worked to elevate dealer voices and give back to the industry.
“I’ve had a lot of mentoring over my years in the industry and wanted to make sure that I could take a leadership role and help mentor other dealers,” Booher explained.
As president at NIADA, Booher hopes to continue mentoring and lifting others, especially other women in the industry.
“I want to focus on celebrating women in the industry. This is a great opportunity to acknowledge them and the contributions they make,” Booher said.
She also wants to build on the association’s education offerings.
“Our focus is on dealer education and member value, making it affordable and understanding of the dealers’ limited amount of time that they can be away from their businesses,” Booher said. “Make it as accessible as possible and as broad as possible for independent retail dealers and independent BHPH dealers of all sizes.”
As she moves into the president’s role, her fellow Carolinian Michael Darrow finishes his term as the NIADA Chairman of the Board. Darrow is excited to see Booher’s leadership.
“Her experience speaks for itself. I know Darla will do an amazing job for NIADA,” Darrow said. “We’ll continue to see growth under her leadership, and hopefully we’ll see a little bit more diversity come as other women see her and want to get involved in leadership.”
Darla is the third female president to lead NIADA.
The NIADA Board of Directors approved by membership included:
President: Darla Booher
President-elect: Dan Johnson
Senior Vice President: Bentley Nolan
Treasurer: Chris Maher
Secretary: Greg Zak
Region 1 VP: Donald Sullivan, Jr.
Region 2 VP: Jack Carter
Region 3 VP: Otto Hahne
Region 4 VP: Blake Ingram
Region 5 VP: Bet Gaylord
Region 6 VP: Nick Markosian
Chairman of the Board: Don Griffin
