Executive Interview with Mac McGovern, Director of Training, KYB America
A successful independent shop owner for more than 30 years, Mac McGovern joined KYB as director of training in August of this year. Considered one of the aftermarket’s leading trainers and advisors, McGovern is implementing KYB’s innovative Ride Control Solutions from KYB program, which is helping to develop the understanding and co-operation between manufacturers, distributors and service centers in order to improve business practices and better take care of motorists’ needs.
East Penn Expands Roles of Top Executives
DeLight Breidegam, chairman, and Dan Langdon, president, recently announced the expanded roles of Robert Flicker to executive vice president and chief operating officer: manufacturing, engineering and distribution and Christopher E. Pruitt to executive vice president of sales, finance and administration.
Michael Cardone Jr. Elected 2005-2006 MEMA Chairman
Michael Cardone Jr., chairman and CEO of CARDONE Industries, has been elected 2005-2006 chairman of the Motor & Equipment Manufacturers Association (MEMA) Board of Directors. He co-founded CARDONE Industries with his late father, Michael Cardone, Sr., in 1970. Today, the family business spans three generations and is the largest family-owned remanufacturer of automotive parts in the world. Cardone becomes the first remanufacturer to lead MEMA as chairman.
Dana Elects Retired Deloitte & Touche Vice Chairman to Board of Directors
Richard Gabrys, retired vice chairman of Deloitte & Touche LLP, has been elected to the Dana Corp. board of directors. A long-time executive of Deloitte & Touche, Gabrys has more than four decades of experience in public accounting including extensive service to a variety of publicly held companies in the automotive manufacturing, financial services, and healthcare industries.
Executive Interview: Jacques Landreville and Jim Buzzard Talk About the Recent Merger of Uni-Select and MAWDI
Our latest Executive Interview features Jacques Landrevillenand Jim Buzzard. On November 1, Landreville and the Buzzard family completed the merger of Uni-Select and MAWDI. The merger significantly expands Uni-Select’s reach into the U.S., where it will generate revenues of approximately $470 million. As part of the agreement, all current MAWDI and Uni-Select locations will remain under their original names, but at the corporate level MAWDI will operate as a subsidiary of Uni-Select USA. All of the various companies within Uni-Select USA, including MAWDI, will be referred to as Automotive Group USA. Landreville and Buzzard recently spoke with aftermarketNews.com and shared some of the finer details about the future for Uni-Select USA.
CARQUEST Auto Parts Names 2004 Excellence Award Recipient
Al Duebber, owner of Duebber’s Automotive Service Center in Cincinnati, Ohio, is the winner of the 2004 CARQUEST Excellence Award. He received the award from Art Lottes, president of CARQUEST Corp. and Mike DeSorbo, national director of training and professional markets, CARQUEST Corp., on Oct. 9 in San Antonio, Texas. Now in its 13th year, the CARQUEST Excellence Award, is announced annually in conjunction with the CARQUEST Technician’s Advisory Council meeting. The annual award seeks to recognize the independent automobile service business that, through the course of everyday service excellence, exemplifies the professionalism necessary to build public understanding and respect for people working in the auto service industry today.
CARQUEST Selects 2004 TECH-NET Professional/ASE Technician of the Year
Richard Robb of Elkhorn, Wis., has been named the 2004 TECH-NET Professional / ASE Technician of the Year. Owner of Hi-Tech Automotive, he is an ASE certified master automobile technician with L-1 certification. Robb was selected for the award after meeting the criteria set by CARQUEST and excelling on the Spring 2004 ASE automobile certification exams. Robb became an automotive technician in 1975. He started Hi-Tech Automotive 12 years ago and today his business has four bays.
Most Influential Women in Collision Repair for 2003 Honored
Akzo Nobel took time last month to honor five exceptional women from the collision repair industry. The five women were recognized as the 2003 Most Influential Women in the Collision Repair Industry, an award Akzo Nobel has been presenting for five years. The 2003 Most Influential Women are as follows: Bertha Bertrand, co-manager, Brian Cullen Body Shop, St. Catharines, Ontario; Teresa Bolton, collision repair/refinishing specialist, ASE, Leesburg, Va.; Georgina Carson, editor, BodyShop Business magazine, Akron, Ohio; Karen Fierst, president, KerenOr Consultants, Silver Spring, Md.; and Eileen Haberman, vice president and co-owner, Glen’s Auto Body, Waukesha, Wis.