Rita Case, president, CEO, and dealer principal at Rick Case Honda in Davie, Florida, won the 2024 TIME Dealer of the Year at the 107th National Automobile Dealers Association Show. Now in its 55th year, the TIME Dealer of the Year award is one of the auto industry’s most respected and highly coveted honors.

Case, also CEO of the Rick Case Auto Group, was selected for her outstanding achievements in the auto industry and her unwavering commitment to making a positive impact in her community. Case and her auto group, the largest woman-owned-and-operated dealership group in the country, has pioneered innovative sales initiatives and founded the Fort Lauderdale International Auto Show, which has elevated the profile of dealers in the region and raised money for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Broward County since 1990. She has collected bicycles for children in need during the holidays for the past 41 years and is the founding sponsor of 77 Habitat for Humanity homes in South Florida.

Jessica Sibley, CEO of TIME, and Doug Timmerman, Ally Interim CEO and President of Dealer Financial Services, announced Case as the winner at a ceremony that honored all 49 nominees. Case was chosen from a field of more than 16,000 franchised dealers across the country.

“Rita epitomizes the qualities the TIME Dealer of the Year Award was designed to recognize – a relentless determination to make this incredible industry even better and to support causes that strengthen her community,” Timmerman said. “She’s paved the way for women in the dealership business and found innovative ways to sell cars, while also working to provide those in need everything from housing and scholarships to healthcare and education.”

Speaking about the importance of the recognition program, Sibley said, “At TIME, we are proud to uphold the decades-long tradition of honoring auto dealers who make a positive impact and show dedication to their communities through our TIME Dealer of the Year award. We are excited to keep this tradition of applauding these community contributions together with our partners at Ally.”

The TIME Dealer of the Year winner and finalists are chosen by a panel from the Tauber Institute for Global Operations at the University of Michigan. The panel selects finalists from each of the four NADA regions, and, ultimately, a national winner from those finalists.

In addition to Case, the 2024 TIME Dealer of the Year finalists include:

• H. Lehman Franklin, Franklin Toyota, Statesboro, GA
• Thomas Murphy, Falmouth Toyota, Bourne, MA
• Brian O’Meara, O’Meara Ford Center Inc., Northglenn, CO
• Daniel Wilson, Corwin Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram, Fargo, ND