Earl J. Hesterberg

Earl J. Hesterberg (born 1953) is a businessman in the automotive industry.

Current roles

Hesterberg is currently the Chief Executive Officer and President of Group 1 Automotive Inc. (since 2005). He is also a Director and Chairman of the Compensation Committee of Stage Stores Inc. (since 2010). He is on the Board of Trustees at Davidson College and the Board of Directors at the Greater Houston Partnership.

Being in these positions at Group 1 Automotive Inc., the firm has become a “more centralized money-making model.”

Hesterberg's total compensation for 2013 was: $4,509,740.

After receiving a B.A. degree in Psychology from Davidson College and an M.B.A. in Marketing from Xavier University, he spent more than seven years with Ford Motor Company in a variety of sales and marketing positions within the Ford Parts and Service Division.

In late 1982, Hesterberg began a 16 year stint with Nissan Motor Company, Limited. He held a variety of parts and service positions including Vice President of Parts and Service for Nissan North America and also served as the first General Sales Manager of the Infiniti Division. In this role, he was responsible for establishing Infiniti’s original U.S. dealer body.

Hesterberg is probably best known for his four year tenure as Vice President, General Manager of Nissan Division from 1991 – 1995. He was named Advertising Age Marketer of the Year in 1993 for leading the launch of the all-new Nissan Altima; a launch described by The Wall Street Journal as the “best new model launch in automotive history”. During his time as the leader of Nissan Division, Nissan sales in the U.S. increased more than 30%. He was also responsible for the creation of the Nissan Xterra product concept, which would eventually achieve North American Truck of the Year honors and mark Nissan’s move into a new range of sport utility vehicles.

In 1996, Hesterberg moved to Nissan’s European headquarters in Amsterdam and assumed the role of Vice President, Sales. In Europe, Hesterberg was part of a management team that turned around Nissan Europe from annual losses of more than $500 million to profitability. He also served as Chairman of Nissan France, Nissan Italy and Nissan Spain, and was responsible for Nissan’s wholly owned retail operations in Spain, Switzerland, Germany and the United Kingdom.

In 1998, Hesterberg became President and CEO of Gulf States Toyota, the independent distributor responsible for Toyota’s operations through 150 dealers in the states of Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Mississippi and Arkansas.

In mid-1999, Hesterberg rejoined Ford Motor Company as a Corporate Officer serving under Ford of Europe CEO Sir Nick Scheele as Vice President, Marketing, Sales and Service. Again, he served as part of a management “turnaround” team, which took Ford Europe from losses of more than $1 billion per year to profitability. During his five-and-a-half-year tenure at Ford Europe, Ford gained significant market share. Hesterberg also served as a Supervisory Board member for Ford Werke, Ford’s German subsidiary that includes three of its major vehicle assembly plants. England-based Automotive Management magazine named Hesterberg the second most powerful person in the United Kingdom’s automotive industry due to his creation of a successful Ford-owned retail network with more than 80 outlets.

In 2004, Hesterberg returned to Ford of the Americas to serve as Group Vice President, Marketing, Sales and Service where he was responsible for Ford Division, Lincoln-Mercury Division, Ford Customer Service Division, and Ford’s direct overseas markets. Additionally, he was responsible for all marketing functions for these operations as well as global marketing support functions such as market and consumer research.

Earl currently serves as President and CEO of Group 1 Automotive, Inc., a Houston-based Fortune 500 specialty retailer and a top five-dealer group in the U. S. market. Since joining Group 1, Hesterberg has led an organizational restructuring that has streamlined the operating model and improved efficiencies. In 2006 Group 1 was recognized by Morgan Stanley as the top performing stock in the automotive retail sector. In 2010 Group 1 received Price Waterhouse Coopers 3 Year Shareholder Value Award for auto retailers based on an 80%+ return to shareholders. Under Hesterberg’s leadership Group 1 has become one of the true global automotive retailers by expanding into the UK and Brazilian markets. The pace of growth accelerated dramatically in 2013 as Group 1 moved up the Fortune 500 ranking to number 307 from number 343 in 2012.

In 2012 Hesterberg was recognized as a Regional winner of the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year and as an “Automotive News” All Star. Earl and his wife Susan are active in the Houston community and he was recognized as a Junior Achievement Business Laureate in 2012 and was additionally honored in 2013 for his work with SEARCH, Houston’s leading charity providing service for individuals and families who are homeless.

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Hesterberg received his BA in Psychology at Davidson College in 1975 and his MBA from Xavier University.

Personal information

Earl Hesterberg was born in Cincinnati, OH. He married his High School sweetheart. They have three children. He loves soccer. He collects old Bordeaux wine bottles, of which he currently has around 800. In terms of cars he has three: a blue BMW M5 (which he drives daily), a white Lexus LFA and a red Ford GT, which he describes as his “toys.”