Lithia Motors Inc. is shuffling its executive marketing positions as it brought back a former executive and media expert as the new leader of the department.
The dealership group hired Marguerite Celeste as the company’s senior vice president and chief marketing officer effective immediately, according to a government filing. Celeste held positions at NBC Universal, DreamWorks Animation, and The Walt Disney Co., where she worked as director of globla creative operations from 2002 to 2011.
According to her LinkedIn profile, Celeste also served as Lithia’s director of creative services from 2011 to 2013.
Tom Dobry, the Medford, Ore., company’s current chief marketing officer, will become Lithia’s vice president of advertising.
Lithia ranked No. 3 on Automotive News‘ most recent list of the top 150 dealership groups based in the U.S., with retail sales of 171,168 new vehicles in 2020. But with its April acquisition of 34 stores from Michigan’s Suburban Collection, Lithia passed Penske to become the country’s second-largest dealership group.
