| William Austin Ligon | |
|---|---|
| Born | Colorado, USA |
| Citizenship | United States |
| Education | University of Texas, Austin Yale School of Management |
| Occupation | Angel Investor & former CEO of CarMax |
| Board member of | Center for Talented Youth University of Virginia St. Johns College UVIMCO Gazelle.com Redfin |
William Austin Ligon (born ca. 1951) is the co-founder and retired CEO of CarMax, Inc. He retired in June 2006,[1] and is now a private angel-stage investor. Among his recent investments are Gazelle.com; Redfin.com; Zigmo; Café Caturra; and MotorExchange India.[2]
CarMax, Inc. is the U.S.'s largest retailer of used cars. The company operates 103 used car superstores in 49 markets throughout the country. CarMax will sell nearly 600,000 retail and wholesale cars, and record total revenues of nearly $9 billion in the current fiscal year. At over $85 million in sales per store, CarMax used car superstores are among the highest volume retail stores in the U.S. CarMax, Inc. is a Fortune 500 company traded on the New York Stock Exchange (KMX) and was named one of Fortune’s “100 Best Companies to Work For” for the sixth consecutive year in 2010.[3]
Ligon and Rick Sharp, then Circuit City Stores CEO, developed the CarMax idea together in 1991 and launched the first CarMax store in Richmond, Virginia, in 1993.[4] Austin became president of CarMax in 1995. He led the company through a decade and a half of rapid growth, including its IPO as a tracking stock of Circuit City in 1997. He added the title of CEO upon the company’s spin off from Circuit City in 2002.[5][6] Ligon came to Circuit City from Marriott Corporation where he had been senior vice president of strategic planning for Marriott Hotels and Resorts. He joined Marriott in 1984 as director of corporate planning, and served as vice president of both marketing and concept general management in the family restaurant division.[7]
Ligon was previously a senior consultant for the Boston Consulting Group in London, England, from 1980 to 1983 and an independent financial consultant in Bangkok, Thailand during 1983-84. He worked as a health economist in Dallas and San Antonio during 1976-78, and was a Teaching Fellow in economics at the University of Texas, Austin from 1973 to 1976.[8]
The primary focus of Ligon’s community involvement is education. He is a member of the governing boards of the University of Virginia, the University of Virginia Investment Management Company (UVIMCO), and St. John’s College (Annapolis and Santa Fe). He is advisory board chairman of the Center for Talented Youth (CTY) at Johns Hopkins University, and an advisory board member of the Yale School of Management. He serves on the board of several venture start-up companies.[9][8]
Ligon earned a B.A. in 1973 from the Plan II Honors program at the University of Texas at Austin, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and a member of The Tejas Club. He recently received a lifetime achievement award at The Tejas Club's 85th anniversary in October 2010. He studied at the Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru in Lima, Peru in 1972/73. He subsequently earned his M.A. in Economics in 1978 from the University of Texas at Austin, and an M.B.A. in 1980 from the Yale School of Management. He is married to Samornmitr Lamsam, a native of Thailand; they have three children.[10][11]