Chicago Regional Forum
Download the sparks from the March 2023 in-person conversation led by guest speakers from CarMax & GHX on how they are driving alignment, accountability and focus to improve strategy execution and achieve great outcomes this year:
Summers Hutchings
Director, Product Delivery & Portfolio Strategy, CarMax
Summers Hutchings joined CarMax in 2018 and led the Corporate Strategy team for two years before transitioning to CarMax’s Digital Product organization in 2021 where she currently leads Product Delivery & Portfolio Management as a Director. Prior to CarMax, Summers spent her career as a management consultant with Deloitte’s Strategy & Operations commercial practice, primarily serving retail clients on a breadth of engagements including omnichannel strategy and store operational excellence. Summers is a ‘double Hoo’ with both an undergraduate degree and MBA from the University of Virginia. She currently lives in Richmond, VA with her husband and two boys (ages 5 and 2.5). When she’s not chasing them, she enjoys chasing PRs as a triathlete.
Ryan Padilla
General Manager, Explorer, a GHX Company
As the business unit leader for Explorer, Padilla oversees the strategic direction and growth of the Explorer digital case support platform, including the operational, commercial, product and marketing teams with P/L responsibility. He brings more than 20 years of management experience, having held several senior leadership roles in general management, operations and management consulting. In 2018 he transitioned from his prior role at GHX into a newly formed opportunity as Executive Director of Strategic Transformation and Enterprise Planning, where he established a global results management practice leveraging the OKR methodology to improve organizational alignment and execution. His efforts were instrumental in helping GHX achieve strong, consecutive growth results. With GHX’s announcement of the Explorer acquisition in late 2021, Padilla assumed responsibility as integration leader for the business before moving into his current role. He is a graduate of the Impact Denver Leadership Development Program and holds a bachelor’s degree in History from Dartmouth College.