Mary Pacifico-Valley

Mary Pacifico-Valley attended the University of Colorado in 1975. When she dropped out, her parents held the line, and she learned very quickly she had to make her own way.

She had friends whose father worked at Rickenbaugh Cadillac and took a job there, first as a sales assistant, then working throughout the service department.

Mary’s path to owning Rickenbaugh Cadillac Volvo in downtown Denver and Infiniti of Dacono is a classic American success story. She understood she still needed an education, so she enrolled in night classes at Regis University and ultimately received a master’s degree in Business and Finance.

With her degrees, Mary was appointed Rickenbaugh’s controller and had the opportunity to directly work with Kent Rickenbaugh. He was her mentor; she learned to run the business with integrity and professionalism, along with how to treat customers.

By 2000, Mary had become the dealer of record, and built on Kent Rickenbaugh’s legacy. Today, the Rickenbaugh Collision Center has expanded to become one of the largest in Colorado. Mary’s greatest accomplishment was opening the Infiniti store in Dacono in 2013, where she now spends most of her time, while her nephew manages the Denver stores.

Mary is passionate about involving more women in the automotive industry and was a founding member of the General Motors Women’s Retail Initiative. She served on Cadillac Motor Car Division’s Dealer Council and Volvo’s Dealer Advisory Board. She is a past president of the Metro Denver Automobile Dealers Association and is currently on Colorado Automobile Dealers Association’s Board of Directors.

When it comes to community work and philanthropy, she concentrates on Denver- oriented causes, including Toys for Tots; the Dumb Friends League; Max Fund; Regis Board of Trustees and the Mount St. Vincent Home for abused, neglected and traumatized children. She’s similarly focused on local charities in the Dacono- Frederick-Erie communities.

Mary was Colorado’s nominee for the 2019 TIME Dealer of the Year, one of only two women among the nominees across the country, and one of only three Colorado women nominated since the award was created 50 years ago.