HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. -- The International Board of Directors of the Inter-Industry Conference on Auto Collision Repair (I-CAR) has appointed John Edelen to fill the position of president and chief executive officer of the organization. Edelen has served as interim chief executive since November 2007.

Per the I-CAR Bylaws, Pezzullo, as vice-chair, will assume the responsibilities of the chairman position vacated due to Edelen’s resignation from the board.

John Edelen had been a member of I-CAR’s International Board of Directors for five years. He had been an officer at Allstate Insurance Co., responsible for Allstate’s auto claim handling practices. He is a graduate of Rutgers College, and of New York Law School. Edelen has participated in a number of executive post-graduate courses, including studies at The Sloan School of Management at MIT, The Kellogg School of Management of Northwestern University, and a consortium of MIT, Tufts and Harvard, in Boston.

Over the past 10 years, John has served on a number of for-profit and non-profit boards, including: Tech-Cor, LLC; Sterling Collision Repair Centers; the Certified Aftermarket Parts Association (CAPA); the CynCast Corporation; and, I-CAR, where he most recently served as Board Chairman. In the past, John has presented at inter-industry forums such as CIC, NACE and IBIS.