Refocusing a Male-Dominated Business
Barbara Moran learned early never to take no for an answer
Barbara Moran had given up on the idea
of ever heading up her father Dennis’s
company, Moran Industries. She’d wanted
to be president, but was told that it wasn’t in
the cards because a woman in a male-dominated industry just wouldn’t work for
customers and franchisees.
Moran Industries has franchises in the
automotive service, repair, and aftermarket
segments: Mr. Transmission, Multistate
Transmissions, Dr. Nick’s Transmissions,
Milex (tuneup, brakes, air conditioning),
and Alta Mere (window tinting and auto
alarms). The company has 237 units, 25 of
which are in the process of opening.
Disappointed but undeterred, she
moved on to other things, including a stint
as a legislative aide to an Illinois
congresswoman. Years later, she returned to
the fold as an owner of a Mr. Transmission
franchise; and by the late ’90s, Moran, who
grew up in the business, held several
positions within the company.
“I was operating in a dual role as a
franchisee and also as an employee of the
franchisor, as personnel director and
corporate secretary,” says Moran. She was
also offering advice to her father, who had
fallen ill, about the company’s direction.
When the person they selected to lead the
company didn’t work out as hoped, Moran
and her father turned to an outside firm for
advice. “My objective when I went to the
consulting firm was to have them create a
profile and recommendation for who should
run the company,” Moran says. “After three
days of evaluation, they came back and made
the recommendation, and informed me of it,
as well as the board of directors.”
The recommendation: Barbara Moran
should be president of Moran Industries.
“Then they had to spend several days
convincing me!” she says, laughing,
“because at that point I had a different
perspective on things in life. I had gone
through some medical issues where I really
had planned on being more at home, and
trying to focus on my family. So I was
looking more toward not taking that role.
There was a lot of work ahead of us at the
company at that point.”
Finally, she agreed. Moran Industries had
its new president and Barbara Moran had
her presidency. That was 1999.
The power of focus
But long before, Moran had determined
she would not be daunted by others’
opinions about women in leadership roles.
“When I was told that,” Moran says of
the assertion that she could not be president,
“I made the decision that I was going to
disregard it, and I was going to learn as
much as I could in as many areas as I could,
and move on with a career in the legal field,
the political field, or the franchise field. I was
going to utilize my employment as a way to
educate myself further in business. I was
planning to move on on my own and make
things work for myself. I didn’t regard it as
being something that I had to live by.”
As an aide to Rep. Jane Barnes, Moran
learned many lessons that would serve her
