SAN ANTONIO, Texas — The shareholders of Aftermarket Auto Parts Alliance Inc. (Alliance), marketing under the names Auto Value and Bumper to Bumper, gathered in Boca Raton, Fla. Dec. 6-9, for their annual winter meeting.

The annual meeting held at the Boca Raton Resort & Club is one of two meetings held each year bringing together the 54 shareholders of Alliance from Canada, Mexico and the United States, where they review past and current business performance and upcoming opportunities. Reports and breakout meetings focusing on marketing, product, information technology and education were reviewed.

This year, the banquet was a tribute to retiring President and CEO Richard Morgan. Friends, family and colleagues were present to share stories, offer well wishes and give thanks for his years of dedication and commitment to the industry and to the Alliance.

Incoming president, effective Jan. 1, 2010, and current Executive Vice President John Washbish had this to say, “This meeting is an important component to the success of the Alliance as we review what we did well in the past six months and what we need to do in the future. We consider it very serious business.” He went on to say, “But we do have fun, too, especially with our tribute to Dick. It was a well-earned moment as we highlighted Dick’s contributions to the industry and to the success of our group. I’ve got big shoes to fill.”

On Tuesday morning, Maureen Brown, from Susan G. Komen for the Cure, was presented with a check for $15,000 derived from proceeds generated from company-wide sales of a 1955 Fleetwood 60 Series Cadillac Die-Cast Collector 1:24 scale replica of the legendary pink sedan made famous by Elvis Presley.

The Tuesday morning meeting concluded with the presentation of the coveted Annual Vendor Awards. The following were awarded to our outstanding vendor partners:
• Supplier of the Year-Category I, Monroe Ride Control
• Supplier of the Year-Category II, Gates Rubber Co.
• Supplier of the Year Alliance Parts Warehouse, ACi Automotive Components
• Outstanding Manpower Support, Wix Filters
• Outstanding Private Label Vendor, PartsMaster Oil by Valvoline
• Outstanding Training Support, Standard Motor Products
• Outstanding ReMan Vendor, CARDONE
• Outstanding Marketing Support, Federal-Mogul
• Outstanding Technology Partner, WHI Solutions
• Outstanding Promotion, East Penn Mfg., Exide Technologies, Gates Rubber, Monroe, Standard Motor Products and Valvoline

Outstanding Shipping Performance-Bronze Level was for vendors obtaining 95.0-96.9 percent shipping performance for the year. Recipients were Amrep, CARDONE, Continental Battery, Delphi, Gates Rubber, GSP North America, Motorcar Parts, PartsMaster Filters, PartsMaster Wire, Plews/Truflate/Edelman, Precision U-Joints, Robert Bosch, Standard Wire, Wilmar Tool and Wix Filters.

Outstanding Shipping Performance-Silver Level vendors with a 97.0-98.9 percent fill rate were ASC Industries, ATP, BBB Industries, Cooper Bussmann, CRC Industries, Dayco, East Penn Mfg., Forney Industries, Foster Parts, GOJO Industries, Haynes Manuals, IAP/Dura, International Brake, Lisle Corp., Lucas Oil, Permatex, Peterson Mfg., Plasti-Kote, Remy Products, Universal Mfg., UQuality Auto Parts, USA Industries and Walker Exhaust.

Outstanding Shipping Performance-Gold Level outstanding shipping performance vendors achieved 99 percent or above during 2008. These exceptional vendors were Castrol, Cloyes, Curt Mfg., Duragloss, Exide, K&N Engineering, MANN & HUMMEL, NGK Spark Plugs, Old World Industries, PartsMaster Oil, Specialty Products and Spectra Premium.