David W Wilson

Wilson rose from his small-town roots and a lower middle class background to become chairman and CEO of Wilson Automotive, one of the country’s largest privately-held auto dealerships. As the eldest of five children, his father was a former rodeo cowboy who worked as a machinist for John Deere, and his mother also worked full-time. Eventually the Wilsons moved to a farm outside of Traer Iowa. Wilson worked a series of blue collar jobs – lathe operator and night mechanic among them – to finance the remainder of his education at University of Northern Iowa (UNI). By his senior year, he was selling cars at a local dealership. Wilson graduated from UNI in 1970 with a degree in philosophy and a minor in business, and after his graduation, he and his growing family moved to Arizona. Wilson persuaded an auto dealership to make him a salesman. Within five years, he would own a 25% stake in the business, ultimately leveraging the partnership to launch his own dealerships throughout the southwest United States and parts of Mexico. Wilson Automotive now comprises 18 automotive dealerships and related companies, employing more than 2,500 people. These corporations total more than $3 billion in annual sales, making Wilson Automotive one of the largest dealership groups in the nation. October 20 2023 David W. Wilson pledged $25 million to the University of Northen Iowas, and as a result, the school’s business college will be renamed the David W. Wilson College of Business.