Eve Knudtsen is president of Knudtsen Chevrolet Co. and has spent more than a quarter of a century working in the family business. A woman without pretense, she is equally passionate about her job and her community.

Why did you choose this time in your life to return to school?

My degree will be in organizational leadership, and at the end of the day, it's about how we relate to each other as people within an organization.

I serve on several different non-profit boards and not only do I want to make my own organization here a better one, I want to make those other organizations better, too.

Do you see your leadership style changing as a result of your course work?

In the past, I really only saw leadership through just one paradigm and I've been learning it's much broader.

I came from a very structured frame - chain of command, policies and procedures, that kind of thing. But it's so much more. I have people working here who come from a different frame. For them, it's all about the employee. I wasn't necessarily making the best use of our people or serving our customers as well as I could.

When did you decide to make a career of the automotive industry?

I was probably 18 or 19 when I figured out that this was what I wanted to do. In high school, I worked at the dealership doing things like service customer follow-up, filing and cashiering.

Was Wayne Knudtsen, your dad and the owner of the dealership, enthusiastic about your joining the business?

My dad's philosophy was that I should go away to school and marry someone who'd take care of me the rest of my life.

After you graduated from college, did you go straight home and join the family business?

Not a chance. Back then, everyone wanted to work for one of the big three, so I got a job at GM in Detroit. What I learned there was that the corporate life moves too slow for me and that I felt I was contributing nothing and accomplishing nothing.

But I did finally come home in 1987 and started selling cars. I also attended classes given by the National Automobile Dealers Association. It was almost like getting a masters degree in how to run a dealership.

So after that you stayed at Knudtsen Chevrolet right up until the present?

No, I moved to LA because I was having a conflict with the managers in this store. I needed to prove to myself that I could be successful in this business, so I picked the toughest market I could think of - Culver City. I did great there and made a ton of money, but it was a lonely existence. You never get to know your next-door neighbor because they're always going to move out the next week.

And every guy I met down there was a producer - just imagine that.

When my dad decided he and my mom would be gone an extended time in Europe and asked me to be general manager and run the store while he was gone, I came back. I was 24 years old.

That was pretty young to be running a dealership the size of Knudtsen, wasn't it?

Actually, no. I thought that when I was 25 I should own the dealership. So when I turned 25 and that hadn't happened, I was really disappointed.

Your business card says "President," so you obviously didn't have to wait for the throne as long as Prince Charles.

My dad got ready to retire when I was 33. He still wanted to own the dealership and wanted to be the major stockholder. He just didn't want to be tied to the daily operation of things. The way we worked things out, he's the dealer-owner and I'm the dealer-operator.

What about life on the personal side? Did you finally meet a man who didn't claim to be a Hollywood producer?

I got married when I was 29 and had my daughter. The marriage lasted eight years. My ex-husband works here, as does my (second) husband, Wayne. Both are in "Fleet and Commercial Sales."

Wayne is the guy I had eyes for when I was 15. For the longest time he didn't notice me in anything other than a friend way. He got married and I got married. I got divorced and he got divorced. We always stayed in touch. And then one day in 2009 I realized he was looking at me in a whole different way than he had before.

So, in the end, I got to marry the man of my dreams.

What do you actually do at work?

I solve other people's problems - and that refers to both my employees and my customers.

How well do you read your customers?

We've been in business 75 years, so we've got a lot of customers who like us, trust us and believe in us.

Then we have those who come in and they've been told all the usual horror stories about buying a car, they've known someone with a horror story about buying a car, or they've just had a terrible experience themselves with buying a car.

The first thing we try to do with a new customer is to make a friend.

For instance, we might say, "So someone took advantage of you. Tell us what happened."

I think a good thing about my style is my willingness to compromise. I always want it to be a win-win and I don't like when it's a win-lose.

How accessible are you to the average customer?

Very accessible. If you need to see me, you can always call and make an appointment. The rest of that access is just me wandering around the store.

Also, I have really good people working here and I'm really proud of them - 63 employees.

And there are things I don't do. You're not going to find me selling a car much on the showroom floor because I have people who know our product much better than I do. I'm more comfortable on the service end.

What do you do when you want to play?

I'm a runner and I like to work out at the gym and also to golf.

My husband and I like to travel - Palm Springs, especially. We like to pull our chaise lounges right up to the edge of the pool and just spend time together.

What about the local boards you've served on?

I recently finished up as chair of the board of the Post Fall Chamber. The way I wound up on that board was we'd just moved the store to Post Falls and I didn't like the direction the Chamber was going in. I was quite vocal about it and Ron Nilson finally said to me, "Don't you think it's time you put down the pom-poms and got in the game?"

At the same time, I finished up being president of the Concerned Businesses of North Idaho. Our goal was to get business-minded people to seek elected office and/or appointment to local boards and commissions. I learned a lot about how city and county governments operate from sitting on the board.

I'm currently serving on the board of Jobs Plus and that's the most fun because that organization goes out and brings companies here.

Why do you think people would want to come to this area?

There's opportunity here. We offer a great quality of life and a predictable tax environment. Our state legislature is not doing wild and wacky things with our tax code.

And what does your dad - the man who just wanted you to get married to someone who'd support you for the rest of your life - have to say about your success?

"I'm proud of you."