Pub. 58 2017-2018 Issue 2

8 Describeyoureducationbackground. What did you study? I went to Texas Tech University on a football scholarship. I graduated in ’72 with a degree in finance. Arethereanyspecific individuals that had amajor impact on your career? Mom and Dad have both had a big impact on me as a person and on my career. Both my parents had an incred- ible work ethic, which they instilled in all their kids. My wife Susan has also made an impact. She has always been a huge supporter of everything I am involved in, includingmy career, which when you’re building a business, isn’t always easy. What is themost rewarding part of your career? Being able to provide an environment for my partners and employees to flour- ish and succeed is extremely rewarding. If you encourage people to be the best they can be, tremendous things happen. Not only am I surrounded by a great team, but it’s also rewarding to see my employees grow personally and profes- sionally, and enjoy their careers. From strictly a business perspective, I set a goal in the early part of 2000 to be the #1 volume Chevy dealer in the country. In 2006 I realized that goal, and became the #1 dealer in the U.S. andmaintained that title for 8 consecu- tive years (9 total). That was incredibly rewarding.We worked hard, and it was a team effort. We’ve also been the GM Dealer of the Year every year since the inception of the award. Whatdoyouseewill be thedominant trends in the next 5-10 years? Autonomous or “self-driving” cars will definitely be a trend and dictate the fu- ture of everything from collision avoid- ance, speed, last minute lane closures, and parking – pretty much everything. How we manage the co-existence of self-driving cars with people still driving their own vehicles will be challenging. Theoretically, in aworldwhere all cars are self-driving, the impatience of any one driver will be a non-issue. On another very positive side, as the population ages, the self-driving car will allow people to continue to have their independence regardless of age andphysical limitations. Electric vehicles continue to advance in terms of the improvements in battery life and range. In the next 5-10 years we should be able to drive as far as we want with easy access to rapid charging stations. The government regulations for environmental protection are certainly going to drive that trend. I’m sure the push for more electric vehicles will con- tinue to increase. The regulations on vehicle weight to im- provemileagewill continue to impact the materials used to build vehicles. Also, the weight of the options available onvehicles will be affected. For example, weight is- sues are already impacting the availability of spare tires in many of today’s vehicles. From a technology standpoint, it’s likely that future software upgrades for vehicles will be cloud-based, changing the way that vehicle safety and diagnostic moni- toringwill happen –without a trip to the dealership’s service department. And froma global perspective, while the Chinesemarket continues to grow– pos- sibly dwarfing theUSmarket in the next 5-15 years – it could have a significant impact on how cars are produced and built. IfChina reaches its potential, their market couldbe approximately two times the U.S. market, which will probably change how future automobiles are built. From a marketing standpoint, more and more manufacturers require dealer advertising to be compliant with fac- tory branding standards. Hopefully that trendwill eventually eliminate or at least restrict themisleading advertising that is still pervasive today. What is the biggest importance of be- ingaTADAmember, andwhatmakes it beneficial? We need to do all we can to support the franchised dealer and be an advocate for