2020 Issue 4 Articles

Many business owners have become increasingly frustrated by disputes during the coronavirus pandemic with their insurance companies over whether their commercial insurance policies and business interruption insurance coverage extend to certain business losses.

The Time Magazine Quality Dealer Award (TMQDA) is an annual Time Magazine-sponsored award, in partnership with Ally Financial, honoring new-car dealers in America. They exhibit exceptional performance in their dealerships and perform distinguished community service. On the next page is the list of IADA’s Time Magazine Quality Dealer Award Nominations.

Sara Witherell began working at the family dealership when she was 15 years old. She started as a part-time receptionist and continued answering phones and assisting in the office throughout high school and eventually, college.

Rick Yemm first started at the family dealership in 1972 as a part-time, summer job in the Detail/Clean-up department. Rick’s father, Richard “Dick” Yemm, bought the Chevy dealership with a business partner, Ray Weaver, in 1961.

Kathy Federico started working at the family dealership in 8th grade. She answered the telephone on Saturdays and worked in the accounting office during the summer.

Jack Schmitt’s father, William Schmitt, was a Chevrolet dealer starting in the 1920s in Troy, Illinois. “I started working at the dealership at age 15. The dealership was also a Standard Oil station, so I greased cars, pumped gas and did whatever was needed. In 1959, after graduating from Illinois College, my brother-in-law and I purchased a Chevrolet Buick Dealership in Nokomis, Illinois.

Pat Manning started working at the family dealership in 1968 when he was 13 years old, cleaning windows and parts bins and pulling weeds. He started full-time in June of 1977 as a salesman.

Mike Ettleson started working at his Dad’s dealership, Celozzi-Ettleson Chevrolet, in 1971 when he was 13 years old. He worked part time as a porter throughout high school, full time in the summers at age 15, and on Saturdays during the school year.

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Illinois Automobile Dealers Association. On behalf of the Board of Directors and staff, we are pleased to present this commemorative issue of the 2020 IADA Quarterly Magazine.

What is leadership? In today’s world, we are often asked many questions and read lots of endless articles about the buzz topics and buzz words like todays digital retailing or the virtual customer, etc. … but what we don’t read enough about or get direction on is how to lead, how to make those around you better, or how to tackle tough things as a group.