CarMax Strengthens Leadership Team to Drive Customer Experience and Growth
CarMax, Inc. has announced two significant leadership appointments as the company moves forward with its new Shift into GEAR strategy, a growth-focused plan designed to strengthen the company’s competitive position while creating a more connected and consistent customer experience across its retail operations.
The used-car retailer has appointed Elizabeth Dirgins as Executive Vice President and Chief Digital and Customer Officer, a newly established executive position focused on bringing together the various stages of the customer journey. At the same time, CarMax has promoted Jeff Campbell to Senior Vice President of Strategy, where he will lead a newly centralized organization combining strategy, data science, artificial intelligence and pricing functions.
The appointments are part of CarMax’s broader effort to become a faster, more integrated organization while continuing to develop its digital capabilities and customer-focused retail model. The company said the leadership changes are intended to support the execution of its strategic plan and accelerate decision-making across the business.
Elizabeth Dirgins to Lead Digital and Customer Experience
Dirgins will take on responsibility for CarMax’s marketing, product and Edmunds teams, as well as the digital tools that support customers throughout the vehicle shopping and purchasing process. Her newly created position is designed to provide greater coordination across the customer experience, connecting digital interactions with the in-store experience.
Her responsibilities will span the customer journey from initial vehicle discovery and acquisition through the transaction itself. By bringing these functions together under one executive leader, CarMax aims to create a more unified experience for customers regardless of whether they begin their vehicle purchase online, visit a store or move between digital and physical channels.
Dirgins brings more than 20 years of experience in digital products, customer experience, marketing and financial services. Before joining CarMax, she served as Chief Digital Officer for Volkswagen Financial Services in North America. In that role, she was responsible for digital strategy, customer experience and marketing activities across the business.
Her background also includes leadership positions at Capital One, Wells Fargo and Marriott, where she developed experience in customer-focused product strategy and digital transformation.
Dirgins will officially join CarMax on October 5 and will report directly to President and CEO Keith Barr.
The appointment comes as consumers increasingly expect automotive retailers to provide convenient digital shopping tools while maintaining the ability to interact with physical locations and vehicles before completing a transaction. Used-car purchases can involve multiple stages, including vehicle research, financing, trade-ins, vehicle inspections and final delivery. CarMax’s new leadership structure is intended to bring these elements together more effectively.
Focus on a Connected Car-Buying Journey
Dirgins said her priority will be to simplify the customer journey while maintaining the trust that CarMax has developed over decades of operating in the used-vehicle market.
CarMax has invested heavily in its omnichannel retail model, allowing customers to conduct portions of the shopping process online while also providing opportunities to see, inspect and confirm vehicles in person. The company believes combining these capabilities can provide customers with greater flexibility as they make a major purchasing decision.
According to Dirgins, the company’s ability to combine online convenience with physical vehicle access provides an important foundation for the next stage of its customer strategy.
Her role will therefore extend beyond traditional digital operations. Instead, it will involve coordinating customer-facing activities across marketing, product development, digital platforms and the company’s Edmunds business.
This structure could allow CarMax to use customer insights more consistently across different stages of the purchasing process. It also creates a centralized leadership position responsible for ensuring that digital tools and customer-facing operations work together rather than functioning as separate parts of the organization.
Jeff Campbell Promoted to Senior Vice President of Strategy
CarMax has also promoted Jeff Campbell to Senior Vice President of Strategy. Campbell will lead a newly centralized function that combines strategy, data science, AI and pricing teams.
The objective of the new organization is to bring important analytical and strategic capabilities closer together, allowing CarMax to make decisions more quickly and with a more consistent view of its business.
Campbell joined CarMax in 2016 and has held a variety of leadership positions involving transformation, product development and strategy. Before his promotion, he served as Vice President of Product, where he led the Supply Product group and Supply Strategy function.
He also played an important role in developing CarMax’s new strategic plan. His experience within the company gives him familiarity with its operations, products and strategic priorities, while his previous consulting experience at Boston Consulting Group provides an additional perspective on organizational transformation and business strategy.
Campbell’s promotion became effective in August. He will begin reporting to Barr in January 2027.
Bringing Strategy, Data and Pricing Together
The creation of a centralized strategy organization reflects the growing importance of data and artificial intelligence in automotive retail.
Pricing, inventory supply, customer demand and vehicle merchandising are closely connected in the used-car industry. Changes in consumer demand, vehicle availability and market pricing can influence purchasing decisions, inventory management and profitability.
By bringing strategy, data science, AI and pricing functions together, CarMax intends to create a shared view of these business factors. The company expects this structure to support faster and more coordinated decisions.
Campbell said the combination of these teams will provide CarMax with a clearer understanding of the business and strengthen its decision-making capabilities.
The move also reflects the increasing role of technology and analytics in used-vehicle retail. Automotive retailers are using data to evaluate inventory, understand customer behavior, improve pricing strategies and optimize digital shopping experiences.
For CarMax, integrating these capabilities into a centralized strategy organization could help align analytical insights with broader business objectives as the company implements its new growth strategy.
Supporting the Shift into GEAR Strategy
The leadership changes are closely connected to CarMax’s Shift into GEAR strategy. The company has positioned the strategy as an important framework for its next phase of growth.
The appointments of Dirgins and Campbell create distinct leadership responsibilities around two areas that are central to that strategy: customer experience and enterprise decision-making.
Dirgins will focus on connecting the customer-facing side of the business, while Campbell will concentrate on strategy, data, AI and pricing. Together, these functions are expected to support greater coordination across CarMax’s operations.
CEO Keith Barr said both executives bring experience and skills that will help CarMax build a faster and more connected organization.
Barr also highlighted Dirgins’ background in developing digital experiences and financial products based on customer insights. He noted that Campbell has played an important role in shaping CarMax’s strategy during his time with the company.
The company expects the two leaders to contribute to the implementation of its strategic plan while maintaining a strong focus on customers.
CarMax Continues to Build Its Digital Retail Model
CarMax’s leadership changes come at a time when digital technology continues to reshape automotive retail.
Customers increasingly use online platforms to research vehicles, compare prices, review vehicle histories and begin financing or trade-in processes before visiting a dealership or retailer. At the same time, many buyers still value the opportunity to physically inspect and test-drive a vehicle before completing a purchase.
CarMax has developed its retail model around this combination of digital convenience and physical vehicle access. The company’s approach allows customers to move between online and in-person interactions during the purchasing process.
Dirgins’ new role places responsibility for several of these customer-facing functions under a single executive leader. This could help the company coordinate improvements across its digital platforms, marketing activities, product development and retail experience.
The appointment also brings together the customer experience and digital strategy disciplines at a time when retailers across the automotive industry are competing to make vehicle shopping more convenient and transparent.
Data and AI Become Increasingly Important
Campbell’s new role highlights another major trend affecting automotive retail: the growing use of data analytics and artificial intelligence.
Used-vehicle retailers operate in a market where vehicle values can change quickly based on supply, demand, mileage, condition, geography and consumer preferences. Effective pricing and inventory decisions therefore require the analysis of large volumes of information.
CarMax’s decision to bring data science, AI and pricing together with corporate strategy indicates that the company intends to make these capabilities a central part of its growth strategy.
A centralized structure may also make it easier for CarMax to coordinate analytical work with operational priorities. Rather than treating data and AI as standalone technical functions, the company can use them as tools supporting broader strategic and commercial decisions.
Leadership Changes Designed to Support Long-Term Growth
The appointments of Dirgins and Campbell represent organizational changes intended to support CarMax’s longer-term growth ambitions.
Dirgins’ background across digital products, customer experience, financial services and marketing provides experience relevant to CarMax’s efforts to simplify the vehicle-buying and selling journey.
Campbell, meanwhile, brings extensive experience within CarMax and a direct connection to the development of the company’s strategic plan. His new responsibilities will allow him to coordinate multiple analytical and strategic functions under one organization.
Together, the appointments are expected to improve alignment between customer-facing operations and internal decision-making.
CarMax remains focused on its position as the nation’s largest used-car retailer, and the company is using its new organizational structure to support the next phase of its strategy.
Upcoming Strategic Update
CarMax plans to provide additional information about its growth strategy during a virtual Strategic Update scheduled for November 3 at 8 a.m. ET.
The event is expected to provide further details about the company’s strategic priorities, key initiatives and milestones. It will offer investors and other stakeholders additional insight into how CarMax intends to execute its Shift into GEAR strategy and pursue future growth opportunities.
The leadership appointments provide an early indication of the organizational priorities supporting that strategy. With digital customer experience, product development, marketing, data science, artificial intelligence and pricing receiving greater coordination, CarMax is positioning its leadership structure around two major objectives: making the customer journey more connected and strengthening the speed and quality of business decisions.
As the automotive retail industry continues to evolve, CarMax’s approach reflects the increasing importance of combining digital capabilities with physical retail operations. The company’s next phase will depend on how effectively it can translate these organizational changes into improvements for customers and measurable progress against its broader growth strategy.
For customers, the company’s stated objective is a simpler, faster and more connected car-buying and selling experience. For the business, the new leadership structure is intended to provide stronger alignment between customer needs, strategic planning, data-driven insights and pricing decisions.
With Dirgins taking responsibility for the end-to-end digital and customer experience and Campbell leading a centralized strategy organization, CarMax is creating a leadership framework designed to support its next stage of development while continuing to build on the trust and retail model it has established in the used-vehicle market.
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