Charles Williams Nash (28 January 1864 – 6 June 1948) was an American automobile entrepreneur who served as an executive in the automotive industry.

In 1916, he bought Thomas B. Jeffery Company, makers of the popular Rambler automobile, and renamed it Nash Motors.

The resulting firm played an independent role in an automobile industry increasingly dominated by the Big Three: General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler.

He bought several distressed companies in Wisconsin, merging them and installing advanced managerial accounting procedures while cutting costs and focusing on long-term growth.

On McFarland's farm, he learned the carpentry trade from John Shelben and formed the "Adams & Nash" concern to press hay.

Durant was not concerned that Nash did not have any automotive industry experience; his expertise was in dealing with people and also how to organize an efficient production line.

[9] Under Nash's leadership, General Motors made immense gains in profits earned and in the number of vehicles produced.

Keen to build up international markets, he set up the General Motors Export Company to handle global sales.

Along with former GM executives, James J. Storrow and Walter P. Chrysler, Nash attempted to take over Packard, but the luxury car maker's board of directors demurred.

[15] Nash was able to negotiate procurement contracts with the United States Army during World War I which made the company one of the largest producers of trucks in the nation.

Nash focused on producing one high-quality automobile for the upper-medium price range, later adding a smaller, less expensive model, the Ajax.

Nash realized he could never compete with the market diversity of the Big Three, so he based his profits on careful management, close attention to costs, and expansion opportunities.

Nash was a hands-on executive who concentrated on developing more efficient purchasing and setting up accounting procedures that would specify the source of costs and profits.

[16] During the Great Depression, Nash cars were popular because they provided high quality, durability, and the look of luxury at a relatively low price.

[16][11] During a time when most others were operating in the red or going bankrupt, Nash Motors was only one of two firms in the automobile industry generating a profit.

Charles Nash is also recognized for lean operations in business that included scheduling production and material orders closely, carrying a small inventory, and having flexibility in meeting the changing market needs during the economic turmoil of the 1920s and 1930s.

[2] Nash is also credited with developing the straight-line conveyor belt assembly system that he first introduced at the Durant-Dort Carriage Company factory.

[23] Charles W. Nash's achievements by 1926 were characterized as a genuine success story:[24] A man who, in the short space of nine years, has built up a business on which there is not a dollar of bonded indebtedness, whose stocks have a market value approximating $137,000,000, whose profits have exceeded $56,000,000, and whose bank balance tops $30,000,000, surely must be regarded as a very practical authority on what makes for success.