Darla Booher is celebrating the 25th anniversary of owning her dealership in Greer, S.C.

The owner of Deal Depot is also marking her time in the car business by becoming president of the National Independent Automobile Dealers Association. Booher was installed on Monday as NIADA president during the annual membership meeting at the NIADA Convention in Denver.

Stepping into leadership, Booher said she 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 said.

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, Michael Darrow finishes his term as the NIADA chairman of the board. Darrow is excited about Booher’s leadership abilities.

“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.”

Booher is the third female president to lead NIADA.

The NIADA board of directors approved by membership now includes:

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

Booher began her automotive career working at a franchised 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 Sept. 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.