Hard work and two Regis degrees fueled a trailblazing career

By Laura Bond

When she started working in the service department at Rickenbaugh Cadillac as a teenager, calling customers to remind them to bring their cars in for service, Mary Pacifico-Valley likely couldn’t have imagined she one day would own the entire network of Rickenbaugh dealerships.

But with determination, the support of owner Kent Rickenbaugh – and the benefit of two Regis degrees – Pacifico-Valley worked her way up. Today, as owner and president of Rickenbaugh Automotive Group, which includes Cadillac, Volvo and Infiniti dealerships, she is one of just a few women to lead a large automotive group.

Throughout her career, Regis has held a special place in Pacifico-Valley’s life. She has served the University as a volunteer, member of the Board of Trustees and friend. Recently she made a $100,000 gift to support the next generation of Regis students.

“Regis has my heart,” said Pacifico-Valley, “I know that I wouldn’t have been able to get as far as I have in my life and in business if it wasn’t for Regis University.”

In 1984, not long after she first joined Rickenbaugh at 19, she completed a bachelor’s in business administration. As she worked her way up through management positions, she returned to Regis, taking night classes, ultimately earning an MBA in finance and accounting in 1990.

“A month later, I got promoted, based on that MBA,” she says. “I owe a lot to Regis for offering that program, that worked around a working person’s schedule. Having that degree gave me confidence in my decisions. Confidence that I could get the job done. Confidence in my leadership and the skill set itself that eventually led to my purchasing the dealership itself.”

She also credits the former owner, the late Kent Rickenbaugh, and his willingness to cultivate a diverse workforce, promoting women to leadership positions at a time when few other car dealers did. “He saw something in me that allowed me to be mentored by him,” Pacifico-Valley told Automotive News TV, an online industry site.

His mentorship, and her degree, helped her land the position of general manager. “I seized the opportunity,” she told Automotive News TV. “I understood how many hours I was going to put in. I understood I had to be ethical above and beyond anything else.”

Eventually, Rickenbaugh offered her the opportunity to buy into what had been a family-owned enterprise. When he and his wife, Caroline, and their grown son Bart were killed in a plane crash in 2002, it fell to Pacifico-Valley to not only comfort employees in their loss, but to reassure them the automotive group would get through the difficult time.

In honor of her achievements as one of a few women in the country to own an automotive dealership group, Mary received the Colorado Women’s Chamber of Commerce Lifetime Achievement Award in 2013. In 2019, she was named Colorado’s TIME Magazine Dealer of the Year, one of the automotive industry’s most prestigious honors.

Now, the long-time Regis supporter hopes her recent donation will help Regis students reach similar heights, with support for tuition and other expenses.

“If there’s anything I can do to support students who want to be there, I want to do that,” she says. “Let’s see what they can accomplish when they go out into the world. Let’s let them go out and own their own businesses and make a difference and give back.”