Pam Nicholson will retire from Enterprise Holdings at the end of the year, as one of the country's top female executives of one of the largest privately held companies in the U.S.

Nicholson leaves her chief executive role after a 38-year career with Enterprise. The company's board of directors will name a successor in December.

Nicholson is only the third CEO in the 60-year history of the company, which was founded by Jack Taylor in St. Louis in 1957 as Enterprise Rent-A-Car.

Prior to leading Enterprise is 2013, Nicholson served as president and chief operations officer. She also led two of the company's largest regional subsidiaries in New York and Southern California. She joined the company as a management trainee.

"Pam Nicholson is more than a dynamic and inspiring business leader," said Andrew Taylor, executive chairman. "She is the quintessential Enterprise success story – the personification of our company's promote-from-within culture. She joined our company fresh out of college and rose from a management trainee behind the rental counter to our top leadership team through a combination of great management skills, keen business instincts and just plain hard work."

Nicholson joined the company in 1981, after graduating from the University of Missouri. At the time, the company operated a fleet of 5,000 rental vehicles and generated about $80 million in annual revenue.

Today, Enterprise Holdings operates three rental brands, a fleet management company, and maintains 10,000 locations in 100 countries and territories. The company now operates more than 2 million vehicles around the world and generated $25.9 billion in revenue for the 2019 fiscal year.

"She has played a critical role in taking Enterprise from a regional car rental company to a global provider of total transportation solutions," Taylor said. "In recent years, she was instrumental in driving an aggressive international expansion that has globalized our brands through a growing network of franchise partners."

In December, the company promoted Christine Taylor, granddaughter of company founder Jack Taylor, to president of Enterprise Holdings.Taylor, 42, previously was the company’s executive vice president and chief operating officer, a position she assumed in 2016. Taylor serves as a member of the corporate board of Enterprise Holdings Inc.