Heidi Foster expands Crash Champions leadership pipeline

Crash Champions Senior Vice President of Operations-West Heidi Foster is overseeing about 300 repair centers across 15 states while building programs aimed at developing future leaders and expanding opportunities for women. The initiatives have helped train more than 400 teammates and grow a women’s network to more than 500 members.

Why it matters: - Heidi Foster’s work shows how a collision-repair operator can scale operations while still investing in people development. - The programs tied to Foster’s leadership are building a pipeline for service-advisor roles and creating more pathways for women inside Crash Champions. - More than 400 ASAP graduates and a 78% retention rate point to a workforce strategy designed to reduce turnover and grow internal talent.

What happened: - Heidi Foster, Senior Vice President of Operations-West at Crash Champions, oversees approximately 300 collision repair centers across 15 states. - Foster’s responsibilities include sales, profitability, customer and carrier performance, talent, and leadership development. - Foster has centered her leadership approach on the idea that building people helps build the business. - Three years ago, Foster helped create the Associate Service Advisor Program, or ASAP, to open a career path for people with little or no collision repair experience. - Foster also established Women of Crash Champions, or WOCC, to connect and develop women across the company.

The details: - ASAP is a five-stage learning journey that prepares participants to become Service Advisors. - The program is designed for candidates from inside or outside Crash Champions who bring willingness and can be taught the necessary skills. - Participants in ASAP build technical knowledge, business understanding, customer service skills, and confidence through hands-on development. - More than 400 teammates have graduated from ASAP. - ASAP has produced a 78% retention rate. - Twenty-two ASAP graduates have become mentors for new participants. - WOCC started with six women and has grown to more than 500 members. - Women in WOCC support the company through mentorship, development, connection, and peer support. - Foster said the goal was not only to create Service Advisors, but also to give people opportunities they may not have had otherwise and help them create opportunities for others. - Foster said, “If you build the people, they will build the business.”

Between the lines: - Foster’s approach pairs operational accountability with leadership development, which can help large service businesses scale without losing focus on culture. - The growth of ASAP graduates into mentors suggests the programs are starting to self-perpetuate rather than rely only on central leadership. - WOCC’s expansion indicates Crash Champions is treating women’s advancement as part of its broader talent strategy, not a side initiative.

What’s next: - Foster’s stated goal is to leave behind leadership systems that can keep growing without depending on one person. - ASAP and WOCC are positioned to keep widening the internal talent pool as Crash Champions continues to expand.

The bottom line: - Foster is using operations leadership to build a deeper bench of future leaders while widening access to careers and mentorship inside Crash Champions. - Learn more about Heidi Foster through her Influential Women profile.