Plotting a new corporate course

Maria Soklis

By Harry Pegg

Kia has been climbing quickly up the sales charts the past few years, a company in transition from a relatively unknown, often-ignored entity to a leading Canadian automobile company.

Leading that charge is Maria Soklis, Kia Canada’s first-ever female vice-president and chief operating officer who took over the post in 2009, moving up from national sales manager.

The graduate of University of Waterloo (in Kitchener-Waterloo Ont.) had joined Kia in 2006 after working for General Motors in increasingly-responsible portfolios in Europe and Canada.

When she took over as COO, she was well aware of the challenges she faced: growing market share and boosting the company’s image with Canadian buyers.

“The automotive industry is known for being viciously competitive so, naturally, there have been many challenges to embrace and overcome,” says Soklis. “One of the biggest challenges was to improve Kia’s brand image in Canada. An improved image and better overall awareness would inevitably grow sales and ultimately strengthen profitability and long-term sustainability.

“At the end of 2008, the company had sold 31,870 vehicles through a network of 155 dealers. Market share was 3.03%,” she says. “Since I was appointed vice-president and COO, Kia Canada’s sales have increased 87% and share has grown to 4.1%. Currently, the company is the fastest growing of the top 10 brands in Canada.”

In 2011, Kia sold 65,123 vehicles sold in Canada and its current market share of 4.1%.

She credits the re-design and evolution of the Kia line-up, which began with the hiring of noted designer Peter Schreyer as chief design officer, as one of the most influential factors in boosting the company’s global image.

“The repositioning of the portfolio in each relevant segment along with the launch of an aggressive and compelling campaign has built awareness and created an emotional connection with Canadian consumers,” Soklis says.

As COO, her area of responsibility includes all aspects of strategy and day-to-day operations. She leads a team of 145 corporate staff, including four regional offices, and oversees 172 Kia dealerships across the country.

Under her leadership, the dealer network underwent a corporate image program “in record time in order to ensure they, too, contributed to an improved brand image and overall enhanced consumer experience.”

During the same period, survey figures show the dealership satisfaction index showed a marked improvement.

Soklis has set her sights higher.

“Also very important to me personally is to shatter the traditional perceptions of car companies,” she says, perhaps drawing on her education (she holds a BA in social development and a diploma of social work from the University of Waterloo).

“It’s important that Kia is regarded as a responsible corporate citizen, one that reaches out to communities and is respected for its ongoing support of sport, the arts and other relevant and compelling socioeconomic challenges.”

Putting action to her words, Soklis has led Kia Canada’s charitable efforts including sponsorships of Habitat for Humanity, the Habitat Toronto Women’s Build Initiative, northern Ontario women’s and men’s business awards and Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD).

She’s the driving force behind Kia Canada’s Drive Change campaign which urges people to actively make a positive difference in their communities.

She’s fluent in English and Greek and has “good conversational skills in French and German.”

“I’m working on Korean,” she says, rating her knowledge at “basic conversational.”

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Tags: Canadian automobile company, Habitat for Humanity, Habitat Toronto Women’s Build Initiative, Kia Canada, MADD, Maria Soklis, Mothers Against Drunk Driving