I-CAR has awarded the 2018 I-CAR Platinum/ASE Master Collision Repair & Refinish Technician of the Year award to Chris Shepherd, an I-CAR instructor at Caddo Career & Technology Center in Shreveport, Louisiana. The award was presented by Nick Notte, I-CAR’s senior vice president of sales, on Nov. 14 during the Fall 2018 ASE Board of Governors meeting and annual Technician Recognition Awards banquet in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Shepherd has extensive experience as both an educator and collision repair technician. He was selected from among hundreds of individuals who hold both I-CAR Platinum recognition and ASE Master Collision Repair and Refinish certification for demonstrating superior commitment to the industry and the importance of training. Shepherd has earned Platinum status for the Refinish Technician, Educator and Non-Structural roles. He also is working on earning Platinum status for the Steel Structural Technician, Aluminum Structural Technician, Estimator and Auto Physical Damage Appraiser roles.

A second-generation I-CAR instructor who started attending I-CAR courses with his stepfather at the age of 13, Shepherd began his collision repair career on a part-time basis at the age of 16 at Shouse Collision in Shreveport. He later worked full-time as a technician at Rush Truck Center and Krystal Auto Collision Inc. in Bossier City, Louisiana. Shepherd started teaching collision repair courses at Bossier Parish Technical School in 2002, followed by a teaching stint at Northwest Louisiana Technical College. He has been teaching collision repair courses at Caddo Career & Technology Center since 2015.

“It’s been an honor for me to help educate students about repairing vehicles correctly and returning them to pre-accident condition,” said Shepherd. “I especially enjoy that ‘aha moment’ when a student has an important realization. My work in the collision repair industry and ability to help train the next generation of technicians has been very rewarding to me.”

Shepherd has been an I-CAR instructor for more than a decade, and is also an active member of I-CAR’s Shreveport volunteer committee. His stepfather, Duane Kimball, is in the I-CAR Instructor Hall of Fame.

“I-CAR is pleased to acknowledge the strong emphasis that Chris Shepherd places on continuing education and technical knowledge, along with his commitment and dedication to the collision repair industry and I-CAR,” said Notte. “We applaud his efforts to remain ahead of the constantly changing technical and material demands of repairing the vehicles of today and tomorrow and his desire to remain as well-trained as possible. We also want to acknowledge Chris’ wife, Melissa, who supports his industry involvement and attended the award ceremony.”