FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -

Along with an increased authorization for buying back company stock, AutoNation appointed a new member to its board of directors who spent part of her career at both Ford and General Motors.

Serving as an independent director on AutoNation's board as of this past Friday is Karen Francis, who now is executive chairman of AcademixDirect, a technology marketing company serving the education industry. Before serving as executive chairman and chief executive officer of AcademixDirect from 2004 to 2007, Francis was chairman and CEO of Publicis & Hal Riney, an advertising agency based in San Francisco.

Prior to entering the advertising and education spaces, Francis was entrenched with two of the three domestic OEMs.

From 2001 to 2002, Francis served as vice president of Ford, where she was responsible for global technology strategies, customer relationship management, global export operations, as well as Ford Direct, the company's online sales initiative structured as a joint venture with Ford dealers. 

Before the time with the Blue Oval, Francis was at GM from 1996 to 2000. Francis held several positions with GM, including serving as regional manager of the Chevrolet division responsible for all dealer operations in 11 states, as well as general manager of the Oldsmobile division overseeing dealership operations nationwide.

Francis also serves as a director of the Hanover Insurance Group.

“We are pleased to have Karen join the AutoNation board,” AutoNation chairman, chief executive officer and president Mike Jackson said. “We look forward to the experience and insight that she will bring to the board.”

AutoNation also announced that Robert Brown will retire from the AutoNation board effective upon completion of AutoNation’s 2016 annual meeting of stockholders, which is expected to be held on May 12.

“Bob served as a member of our board for 17 years, and we thank him for his years of valuable service on the board,” Jackson said.

AutoNation authorizes additional $250 million for share repurchase

In other company news, AutoNation said its board of directors authorized the repurchase of up to an additional $250 million of AutoNation's common stock.

With the increased authorization, AutoNation has approximately $250 million total board authorization remaining for share repurchases, as of Friday.

AutoNation has approximately 104 million shares outstanding, as of Thursday.