The AASA Technology Council (ATC) awarded its Technology Leadership Award to Joe Register, recently retired vice president of advanced technologies for the Auto Care Association, after serving the automotive industry for nearly five decades. The award was presented during the 2022 AASA Technology Conference.

“The ATC does not present its Technology Leadership Award often,” said Chris Gardner, senior vice president of AASA. “It is limited to technology professionals who lead the industry to harness the power of technology, and Joe has done that. He is truly deserving.” 

In his most recent role with the Auto Care Association, Register was responsible for keeping up with new technologies and representing the aftermarket as it relates to new vehicle technology development. He worked with industry standards-setting organizations around the world to identify and address potential opportunities and threats created by emerging vehicle technologies. Register led Auto Care’s effort to define an internationally recognized technical architecture for the safe, secure, standardized, and direct access to vehicle data to address right to repair initiatives. 

Register also oversaw the development of iSHOP and Internet Parts Ordering (IPO) standards and was a long-time supporter of PIES and ACES standards. 

“For the past 25 years the development of technology standards has become my passion, and I know many of you share this passion because I have had the honor and privilege of working with you in these efforts,” commented Joe Register. “Together we are joined by countless others who have supported our work and without whose help, our success would have been impossible. On behalf of all of us, I accept this award and offer you my heartfelt thanks for your vision, determination, patience, and most importantly, for your friendship.” 

Criteria for selecting a worthy recipient of the Technology Leadership Award include:  

• Contributed goodwill toward industry initiatives and/or solutions like supporting technology standards and/or development of best practices  
• Provided leadership within companies to increase utilization of technology to drive innovation and/or efficiencies  
• Championed association efforts to drive technology innovation, adoption, and use throughout the industry 

The award has been presented only two other times in the history of the ATC. Past winners include:  

• Ray Nicholas, CTO, Standard Motor Products (2015)     
• Ed Wolff, CTO, Dana Corp. (2005)