Pub. 59 2018-2019 Issue 2

28 T ADA Chairman of the Board Tom Durant provided the Texas Dealer Academy members a comprehensive look at Classic Chevrolet in Grapevine during their recent meeting in Southlake. One of the premier franchised dealer operations in the country, TDAmembers were hosted by Classic COO and General Counsel, Bently Durant, and Brandi Hodge, Classic’s Customer Care Director. This informative and inspirational look at a dealership known to provide a customer experience matched by few retailers in the country is just one of the benefits of TDAmembership. The Dealer Academy has been previously hosted by the Cavender Family in San Antonio and Nyle Maxwell in Austin, both organizations who have founding members of TADA’s young dealer organization. Bently Durant and Brandi Hodge could not have been more gracious and helpful in making the Academy members feel welcome and at home, simply the Durant Classic way. The rest of the two day Academy meeting held at the Southlake Hilton included an extensive training session on search engine optimization led by industry expert and sought-after instructor Greg Gifford of DealerOn. Following the three hour, in-depth SEO analysis which included a report on the effectiveness of each Academy member’s search engine initiative, Alexa Kade with Clowder discussed how the TADA app can help dealerships, and asked for feedback from the Dealer Academy on how they would improve the app to better serve TADA members. On the final day of instruction, Academy students learned the compliance parameters on five areas of a health plan, ERISA, ACA, wellness programs, cafeteria plans and HSAS. Led by attorney Andrew Malahowski of the firm of Arthur J. Gallagher, the presentation highlighted the biggest risk issues for employers and provided a to-do list style assessment of what employers need to know to avoid compliance disaster. The conference ended with a presentation by Paige Hilton, also with Arthur J. Gallagher, who provided counsel on how to attract and retain top talent in your dealership. Texas Dealer Academy Trustee TimCrenwelge once again presented a compelling program for the TDA members with leading edge information to improve their dealership operations and build on the eight years of education and networking that has made the TADA young dealer program the envy of the industry. New TDA Chairman W.B. Cavender and Vice-Chair Claire Kultgen McDonald, along with program director Kathy Sims have created an advantage for young Texas dealers to receive information not available in other industry forums and the opportunity to build a network of dealer allies that will be key to their success as they assume the lead role for franchised dealers in Texas.  TomDurant’s Classic Chevrolet Hosts the Texas Dealer Academy