Ernest Garcia III, also known as Ernie Garcia, is an American entrepreneur and the co-founder, President, Chief Executive Officer, and Chairman of Carvana. He has led Carvana since its inception in 2012. Before Carvana, Garcia worked in finance and automotive retail, including roles at DriveTime Automotive Group and RBS Greenwich Capital. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Management Science and Engineering from Stanford University.
Who Is Ernest Garcia III?
Ernest Garcia III is best known for helping build Carvana into a technology-focused automotive retailer. Carvana allows customers to research, finance, purchase, and sell used vehicles through an online platform.
Garcia co-founded Carvana in 2012 and has served as its President and CEO since the company began. He is also Chairman of Carvana’s Board of Directors.
His career combines finance, data analysis, consumer credit, and automotive retail. These areas became important to Carvana’s technology-driven approach to buying and selling vehicles.
Ernest Garcia III’s Education
Garcia studied at Stanford University, where he earned a B.S. in Management Science and Engineering. His academic background combines engineering, management, mathematics, and analytical problem-solving.
This type of education has been relevant to his later work in finance, consumer credit, pricing, and technology-enabled automotive retail. Carvana’s official leadership biography lists Stanford University as his educational institution.
Early Career in Finance
Before becoming an entrepreneur, Garcia worked in the financial sector.
From 2005 to 2006, he was an associate in the Principal Transactions Group at RBS Greenwich Capital. His work there focused on investments connected to consumer credit.
This experience gave Garcia exposure to financial markets and consumer-credit businesses. It also became part of the professional foundation he later brought to the automotive industry.
Career at DriveTime
Garcia joined DriveTime Automotive Group in 2007. Over several years, he held a number of positions, including financial strategist, managing director of corporate finance, vice president and treasurer, and director of quantitative analytics.
As Director of Quantitative Analytics, Garcia worked on consumer credit scoring models and their use in vehicle sales. His responsibilities also included areas such as vehicle-price optimization and structuring retail vehicle transactions.
This experience connected financial analysis with automotive sales—two areas that later became important in Carvana’s business model.
Founding Carvana
In 2012, Garcia co-founded Carvana with a vision centered on using technology to change the traditional car-buying experience.
Carvana developed an online platform where customers could shop for used vehicles and complete much of the purchasing process digitally. The company became particularly known for its vehicle vending machines and online-first retail experience.
Garcia has remained closely associated with the company’s development since its beginning. Carvana’s current leadership information identifies him as its Founder and Chief Executive Officer.
Ernest Garcia III as Carvana CEO
As CEO, Garcia has been involved in Carvana’s strategy and growth from the company’s early years through its development as a large technology-enabled automotive retailer.
Carvana’s 2026 SEC filing identifies Garcia as President and CEO from 2012 to the present and also lists him as Chairman of the Board. The filing describes his experience in technology-enabled automotive retail, data-driven pricing, consumer-credit analytics, and large-scale operations.
His background is therefore closely connected to several parts of Carvana’s operating model, including technology, pricing, financing, and vehicle retail.
Leadership and Entrepreneurship
Garcia’s professional journey is notable for the combination of finance and automotive experience.
Rather than coming exclusively from a traditional dealership background, his career included investment work, corporate finance, consumer-credit analysis, and quantitative modeling. These experiences provided a foundation for his role in developing a technology-oriented automotive company.
In 2016, Garcia was recognized as an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year in the Mountain Desert region in the consumer technology category, according to Carvana’s leadership biography.
Why Ernest Garcia III Is Known
Ernest Garcia III is primarily known for three things:
- Co-founding Carvana in 2012.
- Serving as Carvana’s President and CEO since its inception.
- Combining finance, consumer-credit analytics, and automotive retail experience in building a technology-enabled car-buying business.
His career demonstrates how experience in finance and data analysis can be applied to the automotive retail industry.
Conclusion
Ernest Garcia III is an American entrepreneur and business executive best known as the co-founder and CEO of Carvana. His career began in finance before moving into automotive retail at DriveTime. He later helped launch Carvana in 2012 and has continued to lead the company as President, CEO, and Chairman.
His educational background at Stanford University and professional experience in consumer credit, corporate finance, quantitative analytics, and automotive retail have all played important roles in his career.
