Intern to director: Becca Fries on growing with Driven Brands
Becca Fries joined Driven Brands as an intern in 2012. Thirteen years later, she's the Director of Strategic Sourcing for one of the largest automotive service companies in the country, and she'll tell you a good career isn’t always about the job.
Becca Fries was right out of college when she walked into Driven Brands as an intern. It was early days for the company when Meineke and Maaco had just come together under one roof.
Becca had no idea she was stepping onto a front-row seat to the company's transformation into the public automotive services company it is today.
"When I joined Driven Brands, we were a much smaller company. Over the past thirteen years, the business grew through acquisitions, new brands and brought new opportunities,” Becca says. “Every few years, there was another challenge to solve, another business to learn, and a leader willing to give me a chance. Looking back, I realize my career grew right alongside the company and the great people they brought in."
As an intern, Becca entered data, updated Google listings, and did whatever was needed. She didn't know then that 13 years later she'd be the Director of Strategic Sourcing, Maintenance for one of the largest automotive service companies in the country.
“When I started, it was simply a job,” she says. “It paid the rent and afforded me the freedom to enjoy my twenties. Today, it’s much more than that—it’s been the backdrop of my adult life.”
Looking back, here are the three pieces of advice she would give to those wanting to build a career.
Work hard and smart
Most longtime Driven employees have heard the phrase “Dream Big. Work Hard.” Becca believes in the work-hard part, but she has added her own qualifier over the years: work hard, and work smart.
After her internship, she moved into marketing for Maaco. Later, Driven sent her through training programs that put her directly inside the business—first at Maaco in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, then a Meineke shop in North Carolina.
That shop experience changed how she understood her work. It connected the decisions made at a desk to the people living with those decisions in the field.
"I may not want to paint a car or change my own oil,” Becca says. “But I’m glad I know I can.”
As Driven Brands grew, so did her perspective. Working in shops helped her understand operations. Working with franchisees helped her understand the customer. Marketing taught her strategy. Procurement taught her scale and how one decision can ripple across brands, suppliers, shops, and teams.
"Whatever I'm doing on the keyboard up here has a true effect at the shop,” Becca says. “I never want to forget that."
Grow with great people
One thing Becca Fries has learned over the years: the people around you shape your career as much as the work itself.
She has been lucky to work for leaders who challenged her, teammates who made hard days better and people who were willing to teach her something new.
Ask Becca about the highlights of her career and she doesn't start with promotions or presentations. She talks about Domino's before an Ad Council call, Beer Fridays in office chairs and car rides that turned into mentoring sessions.
"The projects change, but the people are what you remember," she says.
That philosophy now shapes how she builds her own team.
"When I'm hiring, I look for curiosity more than perfection,” Becca says. “Technical skills can be taught. A willingness to learn, help others and enjoy solving problems together—that's harder to teach."
Her leadership style hasn't gone unnoticed. One leader and former boss once said Becca does anything and everything with a smile and with grace, balancing competence and confidence as a natural leader. She the kind of person you want on your team and the kind of person whose respect you hope to earn in the process.
For Becca, those comments mean more than any title.
"Some of the busiest seasons of my career are also my favorite because of the people I went through them with,” Becca says.
She believes everybody knows something you don't. That's why she encourages new employees to ask questions, volunteer for projects, and understand the ripple effects of their work.
Make work easy for others
Becca describes her work as fast, reactive, and rarely finished. On any given day, she may be navigating supplier disruptions, sourcing alternatives, or solving a problem before a shop manager even knows it is coming.
Whether it was simplifying the ordering, creating national accounts, standardizing the coupon codes or improving supplier programs, the goal stayed the same: remove friction for the people closest to the customer.
“They might not notice, but I call it a win if it saves time, money or brain power.”
That has become a through line in her career: understand the business, understand the people doing the work and make things faster, friendlier or simpler where you can.
Her advice to interns and new employees hasn't changed much over the last thirteen years:Work hard. Stay curious. Understand the business. Choose people wisely. And when it's your turn, invest in someone else.
Looking back, Becca says the projects were important. But it was the people—and the opportunity to grow alongside them—that made the journey special.