Ian Cruickshank
President & CEOLeadbox Inc.Adjunct Professor at the University of British Columbia. Ian Cruickshank is regularly called on to present and lecture on a variety of Information Technology, Digital Marketing, and Career Development concepts. With an undergraduate degree in Marketing and HR and a Masters in Business Administration and IT Management at UBC Sauder School, Ian is a perpetual student of management and leadership. He has spent 20 years in Marketing and Digital Advertising. His early days were spent with two of the largest media companies in Canada in sales and sales leadership roles. Since then, he has spent his time both consulting on digital disruption and as the head of sales and marketing for a social media marketing firm and, more recently, for an Ad Technology company focused on inventory marketing and supporting companies like AutoTrader.COM, Cars.com and many of the US market's largest Dealer Groups and Automotive Agencies. As the President & CEO of Leadbox, he leads an exciting group of automotive marketing & technology professionals who are passionate about supporting their Dealer Partners with the technology and creativity needed to sell more cars. Most of all, he loves being outside with his wife and his young family in Port Moody, BC.
Get Home in Time to Make Dinner: AI Tools for Dealership Executives
This session builds on the 2025 session: Get Home in Time for Dinner. Dealership executives are buried in decisions, interruptions, reporting, communi
…This session builds on the 2025 session: Get Home in Time for Dinner. Dealership executives are buried in decisions, interruptions, reporting, communication, staffing questions, and operational follow-up. The problem is not a lack of effort, it’s a l
…This session builds on the 2025 session: Get Home in Time for Dinner. Dealership executives are buried in decisions, interruptions, reporting, communication, staffing questions, and operational follow-up. The problem is not a lack of effort, it’s a lack of time. As AI tools improve, leaders have a real opportunity to take repetitive, low-value work off their plate so they can focus on people, performance, and the decisions that actually move the
…This session builds on the 2025 session: Get Home in Time for Dinner. Dealership executives are buried in decisions, interruptions, reporting, communication, staffing questions, and operational follow-up. The problem is not a lack of effort, it’s a lack of time. As AI tools improve, leaders have a real opportunity to take repetitive, low-value work off their plate so they can focus on people, performance, and the decisions that actually move the store forward.
This session is built for Dealer Principals, GMs, GSMs, and department leaders who want practical ways to use AI in their daily and monthly workflow. It will show attendees how to use today’s tools to save time on communication, meeting management, reporting, hiring, scheduling, inventory questions, and operational follow-up, without overcomplicating the process or losing the human touch.
Rather than chasing hype, this session focuses on real dealership use cases, helpful tools, and simple ways to become more productive right away. The goal is straightforward: help leaders reduce time spent on administrative drag, improve consistency, and get home earlier more often. This session will build on the 2025 session; all are welcome, and we won’t leave anyone behind.
Key Takeaways:
- Learn practical ways to apply AI to operational tasks like inventory analysis, reporting, recruiting, training, call review, follow-up tracking, performance tracking, forecasting, and identifying missed opportunities
- Learn how to identify the biggest “time suck” tasks in the dealership and match them to the right AI tools
- Discover how dealership executives can use readily available AI tools to reduce time spent on emails, note-taking, presentations, scheduling, and recurring admin work
