The Garage

If you go to your garage, you won’t find Barbara Moran-Goodrich. But she hopes you’ll take your car to hers.

Moran-Goodrich, 51, grew up watching her father run Moran Industries, which focused on automotive resale and wholesale. She became the company’s president and CEO in 1999 and bought the business in 2010. She soon changed the company’s focus—and the name. After all, Moran Family of Brands oversees three franchises: Mr. Transmission, specializing in transmission and clutch repair; Alta Mere The Automotive Outfitters, an aftermarket parts business; and Milex Complete Auto Care, a full-service auto repair store.

“Vehicles aren’t mechanical any longer. We no longer call our mechanics ‘mechanics.’ We call them technicians,” she says, of some of the changes she has seen in the industry. That car engines are more computerized and complex than they used to be has only fueled her company’s success since homeowners are even less equipped to do car maintenance. But that’s also made it harder to find skilled millennials to hire. “Fewer people are going into the trades,” Moran-Goodrich says.

But one thing hasn’t changed: Fixing cars is still a dirty job. Moran-Goodrich saw that up close in her early 20s when she worked for her father in a re-manufacturing facility with 50 guys, building transmissions. “The thing I had to get used to was the smell,” she says. “Oil was everywhere. The smell wasn’t at the same level as a skunk, but it was pretty close.”