From Classroom to Career: Automotive Industry Takeaways from Northwood University’s CAMS Summit

Developing the next generation of automotive talent requires more than strong academic programs. It also requires companies to connect classroom learning with the realities, opportunities, and challenges students will encounter in their careers.

That was among the clearest takeaways from Northwood University’s Center for Automotive & Mobility Studies (CAMS) Industry Summit and the Northwood University International Auto Show (NUIAS), where Assurant demonstrated how industry can help close the gap between classroom and career. Assurant underscored that commitment with 11 leaders participating in the summit and related events.

As the summit’s presenting sponsor, Assurant’s involvement extended beyond financial support. The Assurant Foundation created opportunities for students to engage with the industry; Assurant Global Automotive leaders shared perspectives and introduced students to real career paths; and Northwood alumni in attendance, including Assurant’s Thomas Hackett, made the path from the classroom to an automotive career more tangible.

By bringing students, educators, alumni, dealers, and industry professionals together, the experience reinforced an important idea: industry has a role in closing the gap between classroom and career. 

Four takeaways from the event show why that matters to dealers, partners, and anyone invested in the next generation of automotive leadership.

1. The future of automotive starts with talent

Workforce development remains one of the most important priorities facing the automotive industry.

The challenge extends well beyond technician recruitment. Dealers also need future sales professionals, F&I leaders, service advisors, and dealership managers who can help businesses adapt to changing customer expectations, new technologies, and evolving retail models.

Industry organizations such as the National Automobile Dealers Association continue to emphasize recruitment, retention, and leadership development as priorities for automotive retailers.

During opening remarks at the CAMS Summit, Assurant leaders emphasized the need for future professionals who can think critically, adapt quickly, and lead through change. As automotive retail and customer expectations continue to evolve, the next generation of leaders will need to help organizations remain competitive and customer-focused.

The event offered a direct look at that future talent, giving students opportunities to demonstrate their professionalism, enthusiasm, and interest in automotive careers while connecting what they are learning in the classroom to the roles the industry needs to fill.

The Assurant Foundation’s support helped make those connections possible. Its focus on education and opportunity aligns naturally with Northwood’s mission and the industry’s need to attract, develop, and retain talent. Assurant Global Automotive complemented that support by bringing industry perspectives directly to students considering their careers.

Assurant leaders gathered at Northwood University's International Auto Show, connecting with students, educators, alumni and industry professionals throughout the event.

“The Assurant Foundation’s support for Northwood reflects our belief that education and opportunity are essential to preparing the next generation of leaders. Events like the CAMS Summit give students meaningful exposure to the industry while helping companies like Assurant invest in the future workforce automotive will need.”
— La Shonda Oglesbee, Vice President, Global Inclusion & Community Engagement, Assurant Foundation

2. Customer experience remains a defining battleground

Across multiple sessions, the gathering reinforced a common theme: as customer expectations evolve, the automotive retail experience must keep pace.

For dealers and their partners, that creates opportunity and responsibility. Technology can simplify processes, improve transparency, and create seamless experiences, but it cannot build trust on its own. The strongest customer experiences come from understanding needs, reducing friction, and delivering value throughout the ownership journey.

That remains especially important in areas such as finance and insurance, vehicle protection, and service. Customers increasingly want confidence in the decisions they make, while dealers seek partners who can help deliver that confidence consistently and effectively.

Summit and auto show discussions reinforced that future success will depend on balancing technology with the human elements that drive customer loyalty and satisfaction. Exposure to those real-world priorities helps students understand how classroom knowledge translates into the decisions and experiences that define automotive careers.

“One theme that came through consistently during the customer-experience discussion was that consumers increasingly expect experiences that are both seamless and personal. Technology plays an important role, but the organizations that succeed will be the ones that use it to strengthen relationships and make every interaction more valuable for the customer.” — Enisa Turko, Vice President, Executive Strategy & Innovation, Assurant

3. Partnerships work best when leaders show up in person

At Northwood, students, educators, alumni, and industry leaders had meaningful opportunities to engage directly.

At a time when students can access virtually unlimited career information online, in-person engagement offers something different: the chance to ask candid questions, hear firsthand perspectives, and build relationships with people working across the industry. Those interactions help turn classroom interests into clearer, more tangible career possibilities.

The Northwood University International Auto Show (NUIAS) brought Assurant leaders together with students, alumni and industry peers to support the next generation of automotive talent.

“Returning to Northwood for the International Auto Show and joining the Alumni panel alongside fellow graduates was both energizing and inspiring. Engaging with current students served as a powerful reminder of the impact that meaningful industry connections can have on shaping future careers. By bridging classroom concepts with real-world experiences, students gain a clearer vision of the opportunities ahead and a deeper understanding of how their talents and passions can translate into purposeful, rewarding paths.” — Thomas Hackett, Division Vice President, Assurant Dealer Services

Alumni participation, which also included Derek Bunkall, Vice President, Automotive Strategic Accounts, Assurant, adds another dimension to that engagement, giving students a tangible example of how classroom experiences can translate into meaningful automotive careers.

The Assurant Foundation’s support created the opportunity, while direct engagement deepened its impact. Assurant leaders listened to students, learned from educators, connected with alumni, and participated in broader industry conversations.

The experience showed how philanthropic investment, business leadership, preparation, trust, and strong partnerships can combine to create meaningful opportunities for future automotive professionals.

4. The strongest events create momentum beyond the agenda

Some of the most meaningful outcomes from the CAMS Summit happened outside the formal agenda.

They emerged through connections among students, alumni, and industry leaders.

The student-led auto show, educational sessions, alumni engagement, networking activities, Gala events, and Foundation-supported programming created many of those moments.

“Partnership is most powerful when it moves beyond sponsorship and becomes active engagement. Being on campus gave our team the chance to listen to students, share perspective, and show how the automotive industry can create meaningful career paths.” — Gary Bosses, Senior Vice President, Assurant Dealer Services

For Assurant, those connections are closely tied to the future of automotive talent. The Northwood experience showed how Foundation support, business leader participation, and alumni engagement can help students see a clearer path from the classroom to opportunities across automotive retail and the businesses that support it.

Through its support of the CAMS Summit and International Auto Show, Assurant helped connect classroom learning with industry insight and career opportunity – demonstrating how companies can help prepare the next generation of automotive leaders.