Battle-tested: Hyundai's new spokeswoman back in autos

Dana White is probably better known for her 21 months at the Pentagon — serving as press secretary for the Department of Defense — than for her three years in Paris with the Renault Nissan Alliance.

But she returned to the auto industry this spring, filling a new chief communications officer role at Hyundai Motor North America.

The former speechwriter for Carlos Ghosn started with Hyundai in April, but the company didn't announce it and she didn't list it on her LinkedIn page until late last month, after she had relocated to the company's Fountain Valley, Calif., headquarters — or at least the vicinity.

Like most Hyundai employees in California, where COVID-19 cases are surging, she's working from home.

Getting there wasn't easy. White, who is Black, and her 6-foot-4 brother packed up a Palisade crossover and headed out for the long drive from Washington, D.C., near her native Virginia, to California.

The first day, June 1, they made it as far as St. Louis, where protests over the killing of George Floyd turned from peaceful in the daytime to violent at night. Four police officers were shot.

"It was really nerve-wracking," said White, 43. Especially as it occurred to her that they had no paperwork for the company car that had her name or her brother's name on it — just the registration and proof of insurance designating it as part of the company fleet.

New colleagues in California and Washington quickly scrambled and within an hour, the siblings had documentation and could continue the journey with confidence.

"That was important to at least these two Black lives," she said.

Starting a new job during a crisis is nothing new to White. On her first day as press secretary for the Department of Defense, the U.S. fired 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles on Syria in retaliation for its use of chemical weapons against unarmed civilians.

"It was amazing how quickly her fresh set of eyes saw things," recalled then-Defense Secretary Jim Mattis. She immediately identified gaps in what the department was planning to say and provided language to better explain the message. "And we came out of that at a very partisan time — you'll remember it's only a few months after the election — with the full support basically of the House and the Senate, Republican and Democrat. And I'd say in no small part because of her quick stepping up."

That episode of national unity would prove to be a rare one. By the end of the next year, President Donald Trump was ordering the removal of troops from Syria and Mattis resigned, followed quickly by White. More recently, Mattis criticized the president's use of force to clear peaceful protesters and make way for a photo opportunity and decried Trump's three years of "deliberate effort" to divide the country.

White, who Mattis described as one of the "few heroes" he still has after his time in Washington, also found challenges at work. Based on an employee complaint, she was the subject of an inspector general investigation for misuse of staff. White said she had removed a longtime member of the staff, whom she said had bullied junior workers, and soon found herself in technical violation of rules about personal use of civil servants.

White described the prohibited actions as mostly just common courtesy, such as taking a message when her mother called, or the occasional uncommon courtesy, like the staffer who volunteered to pick up some replacement stockings for White when she had a run in one.

Seven months after she and Mattis resigned, she was found to have violated the rules, but there was no consequence other than mucking up her Google searches.

"People are not put in leadership roles to protect themselves or their own reputations; they're there to protect their team," White said. "And I protected my team. I have no regrets about getting rid of that particular civil servant and what it meant for the health of my team there."

Mattis credited her loyalty and integrity — high praise from a Marine general.

"I hated to see her leave the Pentagon, but they were tough times," he said. "And she had certainly done her best there."

It's a very different environment that she enters at Hyundai. She's tasked with unifying the messaging of Hyundai's numerous entities in North America that previously operated mostly independently.

In addition to Hyundai Motor America — the U.S. sales unit — the North America group includes the sales arms in Mexico and Canada, Hyundai Glovis America, captive lender Hyundai Capital America, the company's factory in Alabama and the policy office in Washington. Genesis is part of the operation; Kia remains separate.

White is excited to spread the word that Hyundai's products surprise and delight even longtime German-brand drivers, such as her and her brother.

"We have to expand who we're talking to and most importantly how we're talking to them," she said. "So that's what I'm focused on."

Jose Muñoz, who is CEO of Hyundai Motor North America as well as Hyundai Motor America and COO of Hyundai globally, said White brings unique talents and experience having worked in Asia, Europe and the U.S.

Hyundai has gained market share in the U.S. during the pandemic with its aggressive marketing and relatively adequate supply of vehicles. Muñoz said White has already made herself an important part of the team.

"I'm very proud of what we've done for the dealers and for the customers, and Dana has been a key element to help us do it as well as possible," he said.