Kristina Bouweiri didn’t set out to lead one of the top limousine companies in the country. Her journey into the transportation world began with a cold sales call — and evolved into decades of leadership, resilience, and record-breaking growth.
“I never planned on being in the limousine industry,” Bouweiri shared. With a background in international affairs and experience working on women’s empowerment projects overseas, she once imagined a future in diplomacy. But after returning to the U.S., her path changed dramatically when she took a commission-only sales job — and met William Bouweiri, the owner of a small limo business in Northern Virginia.
That one cold call turned into something much bigger. Within four months, Kristina joined the company, and within a year, they were married.
At the time, Reston Limousine was a modest operation focused on corporate clients, with just five vehicles and $200,000 in annual revenue. Kristina quickly recognized the untapped potential in markets like weddings, proms, and government contracts. “I cold-called brides from purchased lists, and within a year, we were doing 100 weddings every weekend,” she said.
The company’s growth exploded during the tech boom and through strategic government shuttle contracts. Revenue climbed to $5 million, and eventually, the fleet expanded to 240 vehicles.
Kristina’s journey wasn’t without personal and professional hurdles. She struggled with infertility for five years, pouring herself into 16-hour workdays in the early years of the business. When her twins arrived, the company had grown enough to support her maternity leave.
She fully stepped into the CEO role after 9/11, when the business took a massive financial hit. “Our bank dropped us, saying our 50 buses in DC were a potential terrorist target. We’d never missed a payment, but we lost financing overnight,” she said. It took years to rebuild, and during that time, Kristina and her husband decided he would stay home with their four children while she led the company.
Even more challenges came with the 2008 recession and, later, the COVID-19 pandemic. “We laid off 300 of our 450 employees. I refunded $1 million in deposits with no revenue coming in,” Kristina recalled. The business survived thanks to a PPP loan and a complete overhaul of operations, including streamlining software, cutting redundancies, and bringing in consultants to reset the company’s foundation.
Despite the company’s rapid growth, Kristina still faced the biases that come with leading in a male-dominated field. “I’ve walked into meetings where no one would look me in the eye or speak directly to me, even though I was the CEO. But it didn’t faze me, I knew my worth.”
Her leadership extended to her family, too. She put three of her children through college, and one of her sons joined the company as a top-performing sales director, even landing a Major League Soccer account that opened doors to a major transportation contract in 2024.
In April 2025, after growing the company to nearly $33 million in annual revenue, Kristina sold Reston Limousine. She plans to stay on for three years to support the transition. “I’m proud to say I paid off the loan I used to buy out my ex-husband and built one of the top limousine companies in the country.”
But the milestone she holds closest? “My biggest accomplishment isn’t just the size of the company. It’s that I had the courage to leave a marriage, buy the company on my own, and run it while raising four kids. I proved women can lead — and succeed — in any industry.”
Source: Business Insider
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