Leila Ackerman blends operations leadership with automotive restoration at Wrenchers

Leila Ackerman is helping run her family’s Michigan restoration business while building a career that combines bookkeeping, HR, and a lifelong love of classic cars. Her story highlights both the operational role women are taking in automotive restoration and the push to preserve vehicles as pieces of history.

Why it matters: - Leila Ackerman is helping steer a family-owned restoration business while showing how operational leadership can shape a shop’s growth, customer experience, and day-to-day execution. - Her path also underscores the challenges and opportunities for women in a male-dominated automotive field. - Her work connects business management with the preservation of classic cars that customers often treat as family heirlooms.

What happened: - Leila Ackerman serves as Human Resources and Operations Manager at Wrenchers LLC in Novi, Michigan. - The family-owned company was acquired by her father in 2021. - Ackerman has spent about five years helping the business grow. - Her responsibilities include employee relations, business operations, bookkeeping, invoicing, payroll processes, and customer experience. - She also helped lead the coordination and delivery of a restored 1968 Chevrolet Camaro that was showcased at Detroit Autorama.

The details: - Ackerman’s early interest in automotive restoration began in childhood while spending time around classic cars with her father. - She says that experience shaped her interest in preserving the stories behind each vehicle. - Her work focuses on keeping projects efficient while protecting Wrenchers’ reputation for craftsmanship. - She has bookkeeping certification and training from the Intuit Bookkeeping Academy, Bookkeeping Basics, Assets in Accounting, and Liabilities and Equity in Accounting. - Her other credentials include digital marketing coursework, a Microsoft Excel Intermediate certification, a Microsoft PowerPoint Introductory Badge, and the Global Career Accelerator program in intercultural skills. - She is pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Marketing at Wayne State University and expects to graduate in December. - Ackerman speaks English and Japanese.

Between the lines: - Ackerman’s profile shows how family businesses can become training grounds for next-generation leadership. - Her mix of finance, operations, and people-management skills gives her a broader role than a traditional restoration-shop position. - She says the biggest challenge in her field is overcoming assumptions tied to age and gender in a male-dominated industry. - She sees that challenge as a way to build credibility and encourage more diversity in automotive work. - Her message to young women is to start confidently, keep learning, and let the quality of the work speak for itself.

What's next: - Ackerman plans to keep driving operational excellence at Wrenchers while helping each restoration project tell a story worth preserving. - She expects to finish her marketing degree this year. - Her long-term focus is to support the family legacy while advancing her own leadership in the automotive restoration industry.

The bottom line: - Leila Ackerman is building a career that ties together family business, operational discipline, and a personal mission to preserve automotive history.