Northwood University continued its 2026 Commencement celebration Saturday by honoring Rita Case, president, CEO and owner of The Rick Case Automotive Group, during the University’s noon ceremony.
Case received an honorary doctorate from Northwood University and delivered the commencement address to members of the Class of 2026. The noon ceremony was the second of three commencement exercises Northwood hosted Saturday to celebrate nearly 600 graduates.
Case leads The Rick Case Automotive Group, the largest U.S. auto retail group owned and operated by a woman. Her career began at her parents’ dealership, where, as a high school student, she sold some of the first Honda cars in the United States. She went on to become a nationally recognized example of entrepreneurship, resilience, and leadership in a traditionally male-dominated industry.
Her leadership has earned national recognition, including 2026 Cox Automotive Woman of the Year, 2024 TIME Dealer of the Year, USA Today National Dealer of the Year, and Automotive News Outstanding Women in the Auto Industry.
Beyond business, Case has strengthened institutions through board service and philanthropy, helping to raise more than $125 million for South Florida organizations.
In her address, Case reflected on the courage it took to enter the automotive industry 50 years ago, when she was often the only woman in the room and many people told her she would never succeed as a car dealer.
“They expected me to be serving them coffee, but that was not who I was going to be,” Case told graduates. “I believed in myself. I was determined. I was persistent. And I was not going to fail.”
Case told graduates that her college education gave her a foundation, but knowledge gave her the confidence to lead. She said she made it a daily discipline to learn about the automotive industry, the economy, world news, and the challenges facing her field.
“I learned that knowledge was going to be my key opportunity,” Case said. “If I knew more than everyone else in the room, I would have an opportunity to be accepted, be respected, and make a contribution to the auto industry.”
Case encouraged graduates to continue building on the education they celebrated Saturday by pursuing their passions and becoming knowledgeable in their chosen fields.
“Take this education and find your passion, because that’s where you’ll be most successful and where you’ll reach your potential: if you follow your passion and your heart,” Case said. “Don’t let people tell you you can’t. Believe in yourself. Be your head cheerleader. Focus on that goal.”
She also emphasized the importance of confidence, humility, and relationships, encouraging graduates to stay connected with classmates and faculty members and to seek guidance from people who have already succeeded in the fields they hope to enter.
“Your network is your net worth,” Case said. “Seek out others who have accomplished the role that you already see for yourself. Ask them, ‘How did you get there? What failures did you have?’”
Case shared that when she returned to the family dealership after college, she told her father that no one would take her seriously if she remained only “the dealer’s daughter.” She then sought help from a Volkswagen dealer across the street, asking him to teach her about used cars because her family’s dealership had begun as a Honda motorcycle dealer.
“He said, ‘I’ll teach you everything, but really, you’re a woman. You’ll never make it,’” Case recalled. “Little did he know, we ended up becoming the best dealer in my town.”
Case’s honorary doctorate also reflects Northwood’s longstanding tradition of recognizing leaders whose careers have shaped business, communities, and society. Her connection to Northwood spans decades: She was among the 2005 Class of Distinguished Women honorees, received the Dealer Education Award from Northwood in 2006, and was inducted into Northwood’s 2011 Class of Outstanding Business Leaders.
The honorary doctorate is the highest distinction conferred by Northwood University. Recipients are inducted into the University’s Gallery of Distinction, joining leaders whose achievements have made significant and lasting contributions to society — and whose examples reflect excellence, service, and The Northwood Idea, Northwood’s guiding philosophy that emphasizes free enterprise, limited government, individual responsibility, moral law, and earned success.
Earlier this academic year, Case headlined Northwood’s Leadership Insights: A View from the Helm speaker series, which gives students and community members direct access to influential leaders for candid conversations about leadership, ethics, and decision-making. At the time, Northwood leaders described Case as an example of principled leadership, entrepreneurial spirit, resilience, customer focus, and service — and as someone who embodies The Northwood Idea.
The noon commencement ceremony highlighted Northwood’s deep and longstanding connection to the automotive industry — a sector that has helped shape the University’s identity, academic programs, alumni network, and national reputation for preparing free-enterprise leaders. Case’s example offered graduates a powerful model of what Northwood emphasizes across its programs: success earned through vision, courage, adaptability, character, and service.
“My whole goal was to prove that a woman could be a car dealer and pave the way for women in this industry,” Case said. “What’s the difference between selling cars and selling furniture? There isn’t a difference. We need both.”
The noon ceremony was part of a full day of commencement celebrations at Northwood University. A 9 a.m. ceremony featured keynote speaker Dr. Gabriel Benzecry, Northwood’s David E. Fry Professor of Free Market Economics, who encouraged graduates to embrace freedom, personal responsibility, and the opportunity to contribute to human progress through their own choices, work, and character. His remarks highlighted free enterprise, individual choice, and the responsibility that comes with freedom.
The day concluded with a 3 p.m. ceremony featuring Mary Kissel, executive vice president and senior policy adviser at Stephens Inc. Her career has spanned journalism, finance, public service, and global affairs, and she also received an honorary doctorate from Northwood.
For more information, visit the commencement page.
