Pamela M. Nicholson is a

U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territor ...

businesswoman who served as

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese f ...

and

Chief Executive Officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especial ...

Enterprise Holdings Enterprise Holdings is an American private holding company headquartered in Clayton, Missouri in Greater St. Louis. It is the parent company of car rental agencies Enterprise Rent-A-Car, National Car Rental, Alamo Rent a Car and also operates s ...

Background and education

Pamela Nicholson was born in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, whic ...

in 1960. She graduated from

Parkway Central High School Parkway Central High School is a public high school in Chesterfield, Missouri that is part of the Parkway School District. History Five elementary school districts merged to form the Parkway Consolidated School District. The name for the distr ...

in 1977 and later earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Missouri in 1981.

Career with Enterprise

Nicholson began her career at Enterprise Rent A Car in 1981 as a Management Trainee in St. Louis.Biography. Pam Nicholson
Within nine months, she was promoted to an Assistant Manager Position. Inside of one year, she moved to the rapidly growing Southern California group. Once there, she worked her way to the top tier position of Regional Vice President of the Southern California Group in twelve years. During her work there, the group added 26,000 cars and continues to be one of the company's largest groups. In 1994, Nicholson was promoted to Corporate Vice President in St. Louis and was given ten groups to oversee. While there, she was considered instrumental in establishing the National Preferred Provider Rental Agreements between Enterprise Rent A Car and many of the auto manufacturers. In 1997, she moved back into a rental as the General Manager of the New York group. She spent two years there increasing fleet growth and doubling profitability. Nicholson then was promoted to Senior Vice President of North American Operations in 1999. In 2003, she became Chief Operating Officer and President in 2008. On June 4, 2013, it was announced that Nicholson would assume the role of Chief Executive Officer. Nicholson is not only the first female CEO in the company's history but also the first that is not a member of the Taylor family of St. Louis. Her predecessor, Andrew "Andy" Taylor, son of founder Jack Taylor, will continue to stay involved with company activities as Executive Chairman. In the later part of 2019, it was announced that Pam would be retiring from her position at year's end.

Recognition

* In 2007, Nicholson was included in the '' Fortune'' Top 50 Most Powerful Women list as number 44. * ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...

'' included her among their 100 Most Powerful Women at number 89 in 2009. * Nicholson was mentioned in the

list of the Most Powerful Women as number 17 in 2018.

References

University of Missouri alumni American women chief executives Enterprise Holdings 20th-century American businesspeople 21st-century American businesspeople American chief operating officers Living people 1960 births 20th-century American businesswomen 21st-century American businesswomen {{US-CEO-stub