Stories

Community leader and new board member Kevin Oliff is making an impact 

Kevin Oliff, general manager at BMW of Buena Park likes to change things for the better. Known as a “fixer,” he has made an over-30-year career transforming dealerships into successes for dealer groups such as AutoNation — America’s largest automotive retailer — the parent company of BMW of Buena Park. Additionally, Kevin helped launch the Russell Westbrook Automotive Group for current Los Angeles Lakers point guard, Russell Westbrook, and various dealerships across Southern California.

Kevin says the road always leads him back to AutoNation because of its approach to the customer experience. Kevin has embraced and built upon the company’s commitment to community support.

“Our dealerships become part of the communities they are in, and what is better than giving back to those communities in a real way,” says Kevin, who joined the Foundation board in January 2022. “I’m here because I want to be part of something bigger than myself.”

Driving out cancer

Each year in October, AutoNation dealerships participate in DRVPNK Across America Day, delivering “Totes for Hope” care packages to local hospitals and facilities around the community. Through AutoNation’s DRVPNK mission and with the support of their customers, associates and communities, they partner with cancer charities from coast to coast to raise and donate millions of dollars to cancer research and treatment. For the past three years, Providence St. Jude Medical Center has been the beneficiary BMW of Buena Park’s generous contributions. Earlier this year, the dealership had another successful event as the 2022 campaign brought their cumulative total of giving to nearly $100,000.

Every October, Kevin and his team also assemble the “Totes for Hope” comfort bags filled with blankets, socks and messages of hope to deliver to patients at the Crosson Cancer Institute.

“I am proud and humbled of the charitable work at AutoNation and my team at BMW of Buena Park,” says Kevin. “When we were in the hospital delivering the totes a few years back, I saw firsthand the joy these totes brought to the patients. It was then that the importance of what we’re doing was brought home to me.”

Kevin doubled down on that sentiment by joining the 2022 A Walk Among the Stars Fashion Show & Gala event committee, for which BMW of Buena Park became the title sponsor.

Making connections

With a passion for bringing people together combined with the connections he’s made in the auto industry through the years, Kevin is engaging more of his peers in the industry about supporting Providence St. Jude.

Kevin counts his work with the Foundation as one of the pillars of his legacy. “I want to be known for having made an impact. I want to work toward causes I care about, like fighting cancer. That’s where I want to put my stamp.”