In February 2020, Susan Moffitt was named the 2020 TIME Dealer of the Year, the fourth woman to receive the award in the program’s more than 50-year history. The honor, which celebrates dealers with exceptional performance and outstanding community service, introduced dealers and industry stakeholders around the country to Moffitt, a second-generation dealer and principal of Porsche Shreveport and Moffitt Mazda, and her commitment to the industry and to philanthropy.

Growing up in Bossier City, La., as the daughter of a dealership owner, Moffitt began working at her father Fred’s store at the age of 14. Reminiscing about her early years working in the auto retail industry, Moffitt shared: “My dad matched the money I had saved so I could buy a car. He always wanted me to have some ‘skin in the game.’”

After attending Louisiana Tech University, Moffitt returned to Bossier City to join the dealership full-time, starting as a cashier and receptionist and eventually moving to the service department. While she enjoyed her role as service advisor, she later moved to sales, where she found her niche.

“I quickly discovered that selling was my favorite part of the car business and still is today,” she said. “I’ve learned that I am in the people business and just happen to sell cars. It is all about the customer. I’ve built lasting relationships and my clients have become my friends and an extended part of my family, my automotive family.”

Today, Moffitt shares ownership of Moffitt Automotive with her three siblings. The group oversees dealerships in Bossier City and Shreveport, representing Audi, Mazda, Porsche and Volkswagen.  

But her success is not solely inside the dealership; Moffitt has made it her life’s work to continue her father’s legacy of giving back by spearheading numerous charity initiatives.

“I was blessed to work beside my father for 35 years,” Moffitt said of her late father, who passed away in 2016. “My success is based on my work ethics and everything I learned from my father – and the relationships with my family, my work family and our community.”

Her philanthropic activities are vast; she is a lifetime sponsor of the Louisiana State University (LSU) Health Foundation and LSU Health Shreveport and served as chair of An Evening for Healers in 2017, a fundraiser for the medical and research center.

“The medical school, hospital and the foundation are near to us because of my father's cancer diagnosis 21 years ago,” she said. “He could have gone anywhere for treatment but stayed here. After a long operation he was cancer-free, and he turned his cancer diagnosis into a cause raising money and awareness for LSU Health.”

Moffitt is also involved with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital with Moffitt Automotive Group having donated a car to the hospital’s fundraising initiative, the St. Jude Dream Home Giveaway, for six years. Other groups that Moffitt supports include Shriners Hospitals for Children; Betty & Leonard Phillips Deaf Action Center (Shreveport, L.a.); Barksdale Air Force Base (Bossier Parish); Special Olympics; Volunteers of America North Louisiana; Shreveport Symphony Guild; Boy Scouts of America Norwela Council; and Holy Angels, a residential care and programs for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Moffitt is also committed to helping support younger generations of dealers and dealership employees and most recently spoke about the power of women in the auto retail industry at the Women Driving Auto Retail happy hour event held in conjunction with NADA Show 2021.