Named an ‘Outstanding Business Leader’ by Northwood University in 2008, Pete Kornafel, along with his wife Lorraine, have their own special niche carved out of the automotive aftermarket. Kornafel has been involved in the automotive aftermarket for nearly more than four decades, starting out with Ford Motor Co. and eventually moving on to own Hatch Grinding Co., which he and Lorraine grew into a successful business by establishing distribution centers for automotive parts in Denver and Albuquerque, which served more than 100 CARQUEST Auto Parts stores. Since 2001, Kornafel has served as vice chairman of CARQUEST. Throughout his career, Pete has been a passionate advocate for students pursuing careers in the aftermarket industry and he and his wife Lorraine make a ‘hobby’ of funding college scholarships. For that reason, no other aftermarket executive is better suited to the role of chairman of the Global Automotive Aftermarket Symposium (GAAS) Scholarship Committee than Pete Kornafel.

GAAS takes place each spring with proceeds going to fund the GAAS Scholarship program. The 2009 GAAS will take place May 6-7 in Chicago. Today, Kornafel shares a little bit more about the scholarship program – how far it’s come, and how much more can be done.

All funds from the annual Global Automotive Aftermarket Symposium (GAAS) go to support a very worthy cause -- the GAAS Scholarship fund. The GAAS Scholarship reached a milestone few years back presenting 1,000 scholarships worth more than a million dollars in a 10 year period. What’s the new goal?

GAAS has made more than 1,400 scholarship awards for more than $1.4 million. My goal is to have our GAAS selection committee choose the most deserving candidates for whatever funds are available. I hope we’ll get to GAAS Scholarship number 2,000 in a few more years.

Another of my goals is to solicit collaboration from other people and organizations willing to fund scholarships for aftermarket career candidates. As always, we’ve got more good candidates than funds, and a great process in place to audit and review scholarship applications. I would welcome more organizations into our process.

Wendy Breslow and the Breslow Foundation Pledge, the Art Fisher Memorial Scholarship Fund and repeated donations from the University of the Aftermarket Foundation, R.L. Polk & Co., ASC Industries and Zurich are outstanding examples. And, we’re having great success working with the state and regional wholesaler associations and with the Association of Diesel Specialists. This year, eight associations are collaborating with GAAS, including NYSAAA (New York) and KIAWA (Kentucky – Indiana) which recently announced their participation.

This is great for the applicants. One application at our website, www.automotivescholarships.com, is all that is required. That application will be considered by every organization where the applicant meets their eligibility requirement. In 2008, 20 applicants received multiple awards.

Have you found an increase of applications due to the tough economic times? Also, are you seeing a change in the student/applicant profile?

We’ve still got about three weeks to go, but it appears the application count is ahead of last year at this time.

We are seeing more inquiries from candidates who graduated from high school many years ago, but who have lost jobs and are looking for help in training for a new career. Normally, GAAS requires candidates to be within two years of high school graduation. In prior years, we’ve made exceptions to that for candidates with military or religious service. This year, we are welcoming all applicants. The selection committee can review all complete applications and make awards as they see fit.

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