by Maria SCRIVANI
Marguerite D. Hambletons life is strikingly similar to the growth of the agency
she heads: From humble local origin to national prominence. The CEO of AAA Western and
Central New York was born in North Buffalo, and following graduation from Lafayette High
School came, via an employment agency, to what was then the Auto Club of Buffalo. She was
hired as a secretary.
That was four decades ago. Today she runs the show at a AAA that has increased its
membership more than tenfold and expanded from most of Western New York to all Western and
Central New York locations. As a member of AAAs national board, Mrs. Hambleton helps
set policy and direction and makes sure that the original goal of championing
motorists rights remains foremost.
Coming this far in her professional life was happenstance, to hear Mrs. Hambleton tell it.
An immaculately-groomed woman who exudes an air of quiet confidence, she looks like she
was born to be a CEO. In fact her early sights were set on becoming a teacher, and she
says she took the job at the Auto Club with the intention of working her way through
college. Instead she slowly moved up, like the club itself, assuming more responsibility
and discovering, serendipitously, that she was good at something shed grown to love.
Marguerite (right) age 4 with sisters Johanna age 3 (left) Angela (center) age 1. |
Marguerite, husband George and pal Lucky. |
Sisters grown-up with mother and niece Marnie. |
I became a travel agent early on in my career, she recalls. It was a
wonderful experience for a young woman to lead groups to exotic places like the Orient,
Easter Island and South America. Remember, that was in an era when people saved all their
entire lives to travel to those locations. Im fortunate that AAA gave me the
opportunity to see the world and Im glad I got to share it with my clients.
Marguerite escorts an AAA Bunny Hop tour to Hawaii, 1967. |
The next rung on the ladder was the management training program at the Buffalo Auto Club,
one of the first in the country. With characteristic modesty, Mrs. Hambleton credits her
rise to good fortune. This office was a pioneer in promoting women and implementing
a training program that allowed people to move up through the ranks, she says.
To this day, most of our vice presidents are homegrown.
Photo taken during a 1973 interview with Maria Scrivani. |
Within this milieu of opportunity, she flourished, proving herself, equal to new
challenges, time and time again. In 1971 she was selected to manage the local clubs
first branch office in Niagara County. Three years later, she was named corporate
assistant secretary, in charge of all branch offices plus the travel agency, membership
marketing and financial services. In 1979, she was named vice president, with added
responsibilities that included the clubs much-vaunted emergency road service. By
1985, after successfully implementing the clubs management-by-objectives program for
planned growth and profitability and overseeing the clubs equity and investment
portfolio, she was named President and CEO. The job fit like a glove.
AAA Niagara County Office Opening, 1971. |
Marguerite with gal pals from left:
Marguerite, Janet Dimet, |
Still, somewhere in the back of her mind, Marguerite Hambleton was thinking about
teaching. She continued taking classes in addition to working full time, earning a
bachelors degree, a masters and, eventually, a doctorate in business and
economic history from the State University of New York at Buffalo. It is a measure of her
determination that it took some 15 years to do so, all the while knowing that teaching may
be a dream deferred until retirement, if and when that day comes.
For now, as for the past 40 years, she is fully enmeshed in AAA activities. The Buffalo
club celebrated its centennial in June of this year, and Marguerite Hambleton was the star
tub-thumper, telling the story of AAA success at various public functions and reiterating
the commitment to membership service. There have been so many changes in travel over
the years, she reminisces.
Marguerite presenting luggage to the second prize winner of a contest held at the Amherst Grand Opening, 1981. |
Vice Chair of the 15th Annual Channel 17 Great TV Auction, 1984. |
When I started in this business, a select group of people were traveling by
steamship, she says. It was an elite, well-heeled group who paid for exotic leisure.
Now travel of all kind has really become a mode of enjoyment for the masses, and I
think thats great. The tremendous volume increase, especially in air travel,
and the electronic revolution, from global positioning to computerized reservation
services to digital dispatch of emergency road service, has transformed AAA.
Still, the more things change, the more they remain the same. The AAA missionto
provide service and value to the customerappears carved in stone. Weve
always had that service mission and we take it pretty seriously, Mrs. Hambleton
insists. Some of our quality assurance programs have become the prototype for the
whole country. In Western New York , one out of every two drivers is an AAA member. We
provide more TripTik routings than any club per member; we sell more travelers
checks.
This is a club that is really utilized by its members.
The Buffalo Auto Club was founded on June 25, 1900, in this city that was, with some 17
car manufacturers in operation, a pioneering site for the fledgling industry. Early
motorists needed the camaraderie of others in the same sport (and it was essentially a
sport at first, until doctors became the first professionals to use the auto in the
performance of their duties), Mrs. Hambleton relates. There were many
negatives associated with automobileshorses were frightened, accidents occurred.
The city imposed an eight-miles-per hour speed limit. Motorists who exceeded that
were fined $500, a tremendous sum in those days. The auto club was really formed to ward
off local anti-motorist legislation, and we still do that work, through our public and
government relations department. We lobby for safety issueswe were very active in
the seatbelt fight. We work to improve roads, also an early legacy from the days when auto
clubs banded together to pave roads and plow them in winter to keep them safe, and even
posted homemade road signsbefore there were any official government highway
departments. A current project is championing the passage of an enhanced graduated
driver licensing program in New York State for novice drivers, which the AAA sees as a
crucial safety issue.
AAAs clout in these matters comes from its strong leadership, wide membership
base and vigilant attention to modern transportation issues, she says. We have a
tradition of speaking with one voice, and now we have 2.4 million members in New York
State alone. We have a good name. People recognize the AAA brand as a symbol of
reliability.
That is certainly the face Marguerite Hambleton presents to the community in her role as
CEOstrength, stability and a proud tradition of service. She expects those traits to
carry AAA well into the new millenium, though with some changes in their distribution
system. Our RESPONSE program is working on data for in-car navigation systems and
palm-held devices. We have a full data base that will soon be accessible via the internet.
We expect to maintain our travel agencies and branch offices, and in that respect I see us
as a `clicks and bricks organization.
The Senior Management Team members in 1980
with |
AAA Senior Management Team members in 1999,
from left: |
These days Marguerite Hambletons travels are more likely to be domestic, on business
for the AAA national board. She and her husband George Hambleton (former owner of Brand
Names, now retired) hate to leave Buffalo in the summertime. They enjoy their
city house and a place on the Canadian lakeshore. To relax, she walks their beloved boxer
Lucky, a dog whose name hints at his SPCA rescue. When shes not perusing travel
guides, she chooses histories and biographies for recreational reading.
Her position as CEO puts her in the forefront of community activities, and she views this
as an opportunity to work for the betterment of Western New York. To that end, she has sat
on the boards of dozens of organizations, from the Greater Buffalo Partnership to the Boy
Scouts, as well as several local colleges and hospitals. Current board involvements
include Western New York Public Broadcasting, Canisius College, the SPCA, HSBC Bank and
The Buffalo Club.
Maria Scrivani is a freelance writer.