Michael Erne

Experience

1. Senior Director, Region Operations

   Audi of America

   Nov 2012 — Present

   Lead all region Sales Operations for 85 Central Region dealers including new vehicle sales, Certified Pre Owned sales, customer experience, distribution, training, and field support. Region expanded in 2026 to include Texas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. Manage all New and Certified Pre-Owned sales efforts including distribution, forecasting, regional incentive development, team motivation, and sales communication. Central Region has the highest new vehicle sales effectiveness of all Audi regions and is well above national market share in both new and used Audi registrations. Develop innovative programs to modernize dealership sales operations and align them with Audi bonus opportunities. This includes an initiative to align salesperson pay plans with dealership sales/SSI bonus goals; and a focus on dealership usage digital modern retailing processes to improve customer satisfaction, transparency, and transaction efficiency. Identify programs and strategies to improve dealership sales satisfaction (SSI) and customer loyalty efforts. Assist Region Vice President in overall region management including hiring of open positions, consultation with Marketing, Network Development, and Aftersales managers, and leadership of all-team region meetings.Coordinate the introduction of the Central Region (added in 2013) including build-out of office facility, identification and hiring of regional staff, team on-boarding, and supervision of region staff, field staff, and sales trainers.

Education

• Wake Forest University School of Business

  MBA, Integrated Marketing

  1994 — 1996

• Wabash College

  AB, Economics

  1990 — 1994

• University of Aberdeen

  International Study, Economics

Skills

• Project Planning
• Product Management
• Negotiation
• Vehicles
• Cross-Functional Team Leadership
• Product Development
• Marketing Strategy
• Analysis
• Market Planning
• Strategy
• Automotive
• Competitive Analysis
• Sales
• Forecasting
• Sales Operations
• Customer Retention
• Budgets
• Market Research
• Management
• Marketing Research
• Pricing
• Product Marketing
• Process Improvement
• Business Planning
• Operations Management
• Account Management
• Direct Marketing
• Training
• Customer Satisfaction
• New Business Development
• Sales Management
• Business Strategy
• Business Process Improvement
• Marketing