THE BLACK COLLEGIAN (TBC): Give our readers a brief background on how Enterprise Rent-A-Car was started. Your dad started the company in 1957. How big was the company then, and what strategies did he use to grow the business?

Andy Taylor: Enterprise was founded in St. Louis in 1957 by my father, Jack Taylor, who was a decorated World War II naval aviator, and we've maintained our headquarters in St. Louis ever since. Jack actually chose the name Enterprise after one of the aircraft carriers he served on.

My father started the company, originally named Executive Leasing, as a small, seven-car auto-leasing business in the basement of a Cadillac dealership. Even back in the early years, long before we had an official mission statement, his management style was clear: provide customers with exceptional service, employees with well-deserved respect and ample career opportunities, and market growth and profitability will follow. For more than four decades that philosophy has guided our company and our more than 54,000 employees.

TBC: Tell us a little about your early years, your educational background, the year you started with the company, your first full-time job, and your early accomplishments.

Taylor: I first became involved in the automotive business more than 40 years ago, when I was 16. I washed cars during summer and holiday vacations and learned the business from the ground up. After I graduated from the University of Denver in 1970 with a bachelor's degree in Business Administration, I took on an entry-level position at RLM Leasing, a Ford Motor Company affiliate in San Francisco. In 1973, I returned to St. Louis and began my career at Enterprise.

In 1976, I became the General Manager of the St. Louis region, and, in 1980, I was named President and Chief Operating Officer of Enterprise Rent-A-Car. Then, in 1991, I became Chief Executive Officer.

TBC: For years Hertz and Avis had been the top two rent-a-car companies. Is the top company now Enterprise? To what do you attribute Enterprise's success?

Taylor: We are now the largest car rental company in North America, but, really, that's not what we set out to be. We've always just wanted to be the best – by providing a great customer service experience and by training and giving our employees ample growth opportunities. Our philosophy of taking care of customers and employees has served us very well. We now have more than 5,500 offices in the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Ireland. We operate more than 600,000 vehicles worldwide, and our annual revenue is more than $6.9 billion.

Unlike other rental car companies, Enterprise's primary focus is the local rental car market. For example, we specialize in car rentals to consumers who need a replacement car as the result of an accident, mechanical repair or theft, or who want a vehicle for a special occasion such as a short business or leisure trip. More recently we have expanded our operations to serve the airport market and now have a presence at all of the 100 major airports in the United States, as well as at airports in Canada, the United Kingdom, and Ireland.

TBC: Tell our readers about a typical career path for a new college-hire at Enterprise.

Taylor: Typically, most Enterprise Rent-A-Car employees start their careers as Management Trainees and work their way up through the organization. In fact, nearly 100 percent of Enterprise's senior management started in our local offices – or branches, as we call them – helping customers, controlling inventory, and learning the business from the ground up.

Our Management Training Program teaches employees how to run their own businesses and provides a solid introduction to our commitment to customer service. In fact, our training program has been compared to a real- world MBA. By starting behind the counter, every employee learns what it takes to meet a customer's needs one-on-one. Every employee also receives professional sales training and learns how to manage profit-and-loss reports, control expenses, and implement comprehensive business and marketing plans.

As employees advance through our system, they not only gain solid skills as competent business managers, but also get the chance to actually run a part of the company as though it were their own business – including sharing in the profits they have helped create.

Employees who have successfully completed the management-training program can pursue different opportunities in the company. For instance, an employee could apply to work in our Fleet Services, Car Sales, or Truck Rental divisions.

TBC: Tell our readers about the corporate culture at Enterprise and the kind of people who thrive there.

Taylor: Our culture has really been key to our success as a company. There is an entrepreneurial spirit at Enterprise that truly is second to none in the industry. It's been that way since the day my father founded the company, so I am really quite proud to have inherited this culture and to be able to grow and strengthen it. We give smart, hard-working people the autonomy they need to build and operate strong local businesses – and then we reward that great performance through profit sharing and greater career opportunities. We help develop employees through straightforward guidelines, training, regular feedback and positive reinforcement.

We believe Enterprise is a great fit for career-minded people who want to take real ownership and responsibility for their goals and aspirations.

TBC: Does Enterprise have a diverse workforce, and what are some of the diversity initiatives that are being implemented there?

Taylor: Jack Taylor began Enterprise Rent-A-Car with a straightforward commitment to the people who mattered most: "Take care of your customers and employees first, and growth and profits will follow."

A whole set of founding values flows from that commitment, and those values still guide our company and the thousands of employees who work here.

One of those values is: "Our doors are open." We do business right where our customers live and work – in the heart of their neighborhoods. Maybe that's why we feel so strongly about mirroring the communities we serve. Enterprise reaches out to people of all backgrounds, and our commitment to being an inclusive company extends to every employee, customer, service provider and business partner, as well as to our partnerships with such organizations as the National Urban League and the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. Nurturing an environment that's inclusive and responsive to all is an integral part of who we are as people and as a company. It's fundamental to our success.

Our company has a diversity mission statement that is reinforced with many initiatives to underscore our commitment to being a fair and inclusive employer. We have a Vice President of Corporate Relations, a Corporate Diversity Manager, and a Director of Community Relations – all of whom work with our Senior Vice President of Human Resources to provide strong leadership to our overall diversity strategy.

This senior management team oversees a wide range of initiatives to promote the hiring, training, and promotion of minorities at every level of business throughout our system. Nationally, about 27 percent of Enterprise's employees are minorities (the minority population in the U.S. is currently 25 percent) and 60 percent of all minorities working for Enterprise are African American (more than 16% of our workforce in the U.S. is African American). An Enterprise National Diversity Team works with local diversity teams to help individual operations achieve local diversity goals.

Across our company, we conduct diversity leadership training for Enterprise employees. Our emphasis in this training is to help create better leaders and managers.

We have built diversity initiatives around the aggressive recruiting we do at major universities and Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and we rely on our community partners- such as the many local Urban League affiliates and the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce – to help us identify job candidates through their respective networks.

For the past couple of years, I've had the privilege of serving on the Board of Trustees of the National Urban League. Enterprise is also underwriting a study being conducted by the Urban League to identify "best diversity practices" at U.S. companies. The study will obtain information directly from different U.S. employers and employees on the most effective ways to strengthen employment opportunities for men and women of color. Ultimately, this project will provide some great insights on the best diversity practices in American business. We hope it will provide a road map for measuring the effectiveness of company policies and practices nationwide.

TBC: Does Enterprise have a diverse middle and upper management team? What are some of the initiatives to increase diversity at the upper levels?

Taylor: We're enhancing the diversity of our management ranks through a number of key initiatives. At present, diversity in middle and upper-management at Enterprise is about 20 percent. Because we are a company that promotes from within, our initiatives to increase diversity at these levels also include extensive mentoring programs to ensure that our people are prepared for leadership roles. We think this focus on employee development is crucial to our ability to have a diverse management team.

In addition, Enterprise developed the Jack Taylor Founding Values Award to honor business performance that truly reflects our values. In order for an operation to win this award it must achieve exceptional success in areas like work/life balance, diversity, business practices and philanthropy. This award reinforces our commitment to living our values, every day, with our customers, and with each other.

In less than 50 years, Enterprise has climbed to the top of our industry and gained recognition as one of the business world's most remarkable success stories. We aren't satisfied with being a top business leader. We're also determined to set the standard for trusted civic leadership. As a result, we've worked hard to build a reputation among customers, employees and community leaders as a company they know and trust – a company that is making communities stronger by contributing to their economic vitality … by hiring men and women who reflect the diverse face of those communities … and by simply making it our business to do the right thing.

TBC: Tell our readers about some of the African Americans who are succeeding at Enterprise.

Edward F. Adams Senior VP, Human Resources

Derron S. Watson Corporate Diversity Manager

Marie M. Artim Corp. HR Manager, Recruiting

Alonzo Byrd Jr. Director, Corporate Relations

Taylor: As you might expect with a workforce of more than 54,000 employees, we employ many African Americans who are making tremendous contributions to our success. To name just a few: Ed Adams, senior vice president of human resources; Lisa Burgess, vice president, rental development; Jason Fowler, vice president and general manager, greater Rhode Island; Kevin Moore, regional vice president, Detroit; Shannon Moore, regional vice president, Philadelphia; Deanna Harris, assistant vice president, Information Technology. These individual aren't just helping to lead our company today – they're also serving as great mentors for the next generation of Enterprise leaders.

TBC: What attributes do your recruiters look for in a new candidate?

Taylor: We look for entrepreneurial individuals, people who are enthusiastic, motivated and looking for an opportunity to build a career. Candidates who want to advance rapidly into management positions and who are willing to work hard will have a great future.

People with a customer-service attitude and the ability to think on their feet will find ongoing training, good benefits, the opportunity to double their pay in a few years and the responsibility of making business decisions early on in their professional careers.

TBC: Does Enterprise offer internship programs, and if so how does a student apply?

Taylor: Yes we do. We offer a paid Management Internship that mirrors our Management Trainee Program, working side by side with the management team. Typically, students will work full-time throughout their summer break, and they will also have an opportunity to be involved in scholarship programs and be eligible for performance bonuses. The idea is that interns get involved in all aspects of running the business, understanding our culture, and learning our customer service model.

TBC: Tell our readers about the contributions you made to Washington University for scholarships for African-American students.

Taylor: Our company and my family have had a long-term relationship with Washington University, which is located in our home city of St. Louis and is today considered one of the country's top 10 universities. In fact, my father attended the university, and while growing up, I too was deeply influenced by the University's national reputation for excellence.

Our $25 million contribution to Washington University established an endowed scholarship fund for African American and financially disadvantaged students. Each year, a certain number of African-American students are selected as "Enterprise Scholars" from the immediate St. Louis metropolitan area and from elsewhere throughout the country. The scholarships are intended to assist students who otherwise might not be able to attend this university.

There are currently two classes of Enterprise Scholars, representing 66 students. Each year, we have a special dinner with the students to get acquainted with them and to let them know who we are and what we're about. Those in the program are gifted students who have the potential to become outstanding citizens. And that's why we wanted to establish the program – to help educate the next generation of American leaders.

TBC: What advice would you give a student who wants to work for Enterprise?

Taylor: Find out as much as you can about us. And you don't have to take my word for it! I suggest that you log onto our Web site and read about the experiences others have had. You can apply online or call one of our local recruiters, or look for us at your university.