CEO
Service King Collision Repair
February 24

Service King Collision Repair CEO Cathy Bonner shares her fast-track growth strategy for the $200 million company. Bonner discusses the benefits of learning a trade in today’s economy and why women should consider a career in collision repair.  Learn how the Dallas native blazed trails in Austin for women’s rights, business development and cancer research.

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Cathy Bonner is a business entrepreneur with over 35 years of experience in leading a variety of multi-million dollar organizations in both the private and public sectors. Fortune Magazine named Bonner as one of the 25 most influential women entrepreneursin America, saying she is “…smart, gutsy, and innovative–as interested in making a difference as in making money.”

In 2010 she was announced as President of SERVICE KING COLLISION REPAIR CENTERS, the largest employee owned collision operator in the nation, with the ambitious goal of doubling the size of the company.

In the private sector, Bonner was the founder and President of successful companies in the marketing, advertising and cable television industries. For ten years Bonner Incorporated was the marketing agency for twelve state owned programs that help families save for their children’s college education. Her clients, known as 529 prepaid college tuition and savings programs amassed over $30 billion in investment assets as a result of Bonner’s advertising and marketing efforts.

In 2007, Bonner set her sights on finding cures for cancer. She conceived of the idea, formed the coalition, teamed up with Lance Armstrong, and passed legislation creating the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas. She led the effort to pass the $3 billion ballot constitutional amendment that now funds innovative and needed medical research for cancer cures.

Bonner served in the cabinet of Governor Ann Richards as Executive Director of the Texas Department of Commerce. As director of the state’s economic development and workforce training agency, she helped Texas create more jobs than any other state in the nation for three consecutive years. Managing 500 employees and a budget of $500 million, Bonner was responsible for corporate relocation and investment efforts, small business development, promotion of state tourism, federally funded workforce training programs, international trade offices, and job generation stimulus programs including the Texas Smart Jobs Program.

Bonner is the founder of The Women’s Museum: An Institute for the Future, the nation’s only comprehensive women’s history museum affiliated with the Smithsonian Institution. Bonner raised over $32 million to restore this historic structure in Dallas Fair Park and build an award winning national museum.

Bonner is the founder of three leadership training programs: Leadership America, Leadership Texas and Power Pipeline. She serves on the Board of Directors of the Foundation for Women’s Resources and chairs the Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders Foundation Board.