STAUNTON, Va. – Federated Auto Parts honored John Lutes of East Penn Manufacturing Co. as the 2008 Federated Vendor Hall of Fame inductee. The award was presented April 30 during Federated’s annual meeting held in Tampa, Fla.

“Each year, Federated selects an outstanding individual to be inducted into the Federated Hall of Fame. This year we are proud to honor John Lutes as our 2008 inductee,” said Rusty Bishop, CEO of Federated Auto Parts. “John has been a long-time partner with Federated, demonstrating his dedication to our group time and time again over the years. We value John’s commitment to our mutual success and are very pleased to recognize him with this award.”

Lutes has spent nearly 50 years in the automotive aftermarket. After graduating from the University of Akron and serving in the army reserve, Lutes began his career at Seiberling Rubber Co. as a retail store auditor. He then joined ESB Inc. (now Exide) as a market analyst where he held several positions of increasing responsibility, eventually being named director of marketing, automotive batteries. Lutes was hired by Douglas Battery in 1984 and held a variety of sales and marketing positions. In 2005, when East Penn acquired the automotive division of Douglas Batteries, Lutes was named sales manager, program groups. He is an active industry participant, currently serving on the Automotive Aftermarket Industry Association government affairs committee. He has also been an officer of the Automotive Market Research Council and the Automotive Advertisers Council. Lutes received his AAP in 2003.

Lutes follows in the footsteps of the 2007 Federated Vendor Hall of Fame inductee, Bob Egan of Federal-Mogul.