153 - Jackie Mills: Reviving a Family Legacy at Jess Lewis Transmission
September 30, 2025 - 00:30:47

 

Show Summary:

Jimmy Lea talks with Jackie Mills from Jess Lewis Transmission in Fort Wayne, Indiana, about carrying forward a legacy that began in 1954. Jackie shares how her family has grown the business into a 16-bay operation with nearly 20 technicians, balancing tradition with modern innovation. She opens up about her father’s lifelong dedication, the challenges of delegation, and her mission to strengthen structure and process. From mastering CVT rebuilds to transitioning to AutoLeap for better communication and customer transparency, the shop is evolving without losing its roots. Jackie also discusses hiring challenges, industry perceptions, and how she’s preparing to take the business into its next chapter while pursuing her master’s in accounting.

 

Host(s):

Jimmy Lea, VP of Business Development

 

Guest(s):

Jackie Mills, owner Jess Lewis Transmission

 

Show Highlights:

[00:00:22 ] - Jackie shares the history of Jess Lewis Transmission, founded in 1954 with racing roots.

[00:01:42 ] - The shop’s ownership passes through decades, now in the hands of the third family generation.

[00:03:13 ] - Jackie works alongside her dad, focusing on building systems and delegation.

[00:05:21 ] - A look inside the shop’s structure: 16 bays, rebuild specialists, and CVT expertise.

[00:06:41 ] - Her husband’s role in tackling the toughest rebuilds that few shops attempt.

[00:07:26 ] - Growing up at the shop taught Jackie the value of hard work and small business life.

[00:09:28 ] - Corporate experience prepared her for the customer service side of the auto industry.

[00:12:23 ] - Hiring remains the biggest challenge as the trade faces generational shifts.

[00:17:46 ] - The switch to AutoLeap brings efficiency, transparency, and stronger customer trust.

[00:20:11 ] - Future goals: refine processes, strengthen operations, and expand for sustainable growth.

 

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Episode Transcript Disclaimer

This transcript was generated using artificial intelligence and may contain errors. If you notice any inaccuracies, please contact us at marketing@wearetheinstitute.com.

 

Episode Transcript:

Jimmy Lea: Hello, friend. Thank you for joining me. This is Jimmy Lea. I'm with the Institute for Automotive Business Excellence and this is the Leading Edge podcast. Joining me today is Jackie Mills. Jackie is with the Jess Lewis transmission, a shop in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Is that correct, Jackie?

Jackie Mills: Yep. Yeah, that's correct.

Jimmy Lea: The one flight I've taken as a red eye was to Fort Wayne, Indiana. How about that for a memory of Fort Wayne?

Jackie Mills: We have a pretty good airport. It's very small, but like nice and friendly, and you always get a cookie and you get off of a flight.

Jimmy Lea: Oh, that's cool. Now I don't think I got myself a cookie.

Jackie Mills: Oh no.

Jimmy Lea: I attended and went immediately into a chapter meeting.

Jimmy Lea: I was so red. It was the one and only red eye have ever done. In the last 15 years, I've traveled quite a bit. I was a zombie for the next three days. I really couldn't even tell you where I went, what I did, who I saw. I was pretty much zombie. It was horrible. I don't ever recommend you do red eye flights.

Jimmy Lea: I just think that's cruel and unusual punishment.

Jackie Mills: I agree.

Jimmy Lea: Yeah. And here I thought, oh, I'm being so smart here. I'm gonna save the cost of a hotel room. No.

Jackie Mills: Not worth it.

Jimmy Lea: Not worth it. Not worth it at all. Not worth it at all. So Jackie, thank you for joining me today. Really appreciate it. And I'm excited to learn more about Jess Lewis transmission.

Jimmy Lea: In fact, that's where I wanna start. The question is, who is Jess Lewis? And what's the story here with your shop?

Jackie Mills: So Jess Lewis he founded the shop in 1954, so we've kind of got a longstanding history in Fort Wayne. I know you'll have to forgive me for not knowing the details of that I grew up like around cars and all of that.

Jackie Mills: I just don't know them as well as maybe I would like to someday, but. He like invented a specific type of transmission, like he was really into racing stuff. We've dug into a little bit about that and if anyone's curious, we have a little bit of background on our website. It's hard to find a lot because he did all of this stuff in the.

Jackie Mills: Like fifties, sixties, seventies, what have you. But it has been in my family since the nineties. I know that it went through a change of ownership between the eighties and nineties. So, Jess has not been involved for a little bit. We're technically the third owner. But he passed away in like the early two thousands, but I guess he was pretty big in the automotive world in our area.

Jimmy Lea: Oh yeah. Well, racing was very big in Indiana, that was that's a big pastime there in Indiana and may he rest in peace. That's phenomenal that he started the shop and got you involved or that your dad was able to buy it. So you guys are third time generation owners. Dad bought the business.

Jimmy Lea: Is dad still working in the shop?

Jackie Mills: Yes, very much so. He's still very active, very necessary. In the past several years we've been trying to get him to be a little less necessary because he's one of those traditional, like one man show does everything over, extends himself. Worked way too many hours for way too many years.

Jackie Mills: So we're working on the delegation thing and I mean, I've been here for like the past five years. So that's what we've been working on for five years and we still haven't gotten him to quite like, you know, step out of everything the way that we want to, but we're working on that.

Jimmy Lea: Yeah, there's been quite a few succession plans that we have helped implement here in the last two years that I'm aware of at the institute.

Jimmy Lea: So if you'd looking for any advice or information about how to start the conversation, how to structure the conversation and how to finish the conversation. We could probably assist with a little bit of that conversation between you and pops.

Jackie Mills: Yeah, definitely.

Jimmy Lea: Oh, that's cool. Well, and congratulations to pops as well for having the insight and the foresight to be able to buy the shop and have it ready for you.

Jimmy Lea: So what's the succession plan? What are you looking to do with your dad?

Jackie Mills: So we don't really have like anything officially structured like nothing. Other than kind of like loose ideas, I imagine that he'll still be working for quite a while and in being involved in some capacity even after retirement.

Jackie Mills: He just likes to be busy. He's a very like, hard worker. Like that's just kind of what he does. That's how he, because I mean, he even grew the shop to be like. What it is today. And like it was a very small business with just a couple bays and now we have like 19 guys working for us. Well, 19 technicians I should say.

Jackie Mills: 'Cause we do have a Jackie

Jimmy Lea: 19 technicians. Oh my gosh. How many bays do you guys have? How many shops do you have?

Jackie Mills: So we do it a little bit differently. I think we have like 16 bays. Some of those guys are exclusively rebuild technicians, so they focus on the, like r the rebuilding of transmissions exclusively.

Jimmy Lea: RR,

Jackie Mills: yeah. So like the rest of them are your traditional like r and r automotive technicians. And then the other ones are just rebuilds. So they, like the r and r guys, take the transmissions out and put them in and do like the traditional automotive work, that type of thing. Whereas our rebuilds like actually do the rebuilding of the transmissions.

Jimmy Lea: Oh yeah. And that is such a skill. I've St. George transmission in St. George, Utah, which is where I used to live. There they have the, he has nine master certified techs and these nine guys are the master certified that would take apart that jigsaw puzzle and put it back together. And they love it.

Jimmy Lea: Yeah. And I love that they love it because that is not my jam.

Jac