Since early 2013, president has revamped NADA to focus on its core mission

NADA has slimmed down and homed in on its core mission under the leadership of Peter Welch.

When Welch became president of the trade association in early 2013, NADA had 350 employees. Today, it has around 190.

Some of the major changes: In 2014, it bulked up its public relations department and launched a defense of the franchised dealership model. In 2015, the organization sold its NADA Used Car Guide to J.D. Power and Associates and got out of the retirement planning business.

It's the "unglamorous stuff," as Welch, 63, puts it.

"What I've spent most of my time doing is reinventing NADA from the inside, revitalizing it and pulling back from some of those less-core issues, whether it's the guidebook business or the 401(k) business, which frees up our staff to really focus on the core," said Welch, who previously led the California New Car Dealers Association. "And the core is legislative, regulatory, dealer operations, advocacy with the manufacturers and, yes, advocacy with the general public."

Welch, borrowing a tool he'd used in California, hired an outside consultant to oversee a strategic planning process in 2015. The consultant surveyed NADA's executive committee, board members and membership. About 2,200 members -- or 14 percent of membership -- turned in the survey. Their top two priorities, according to Welch:

1. Protecting dealers from burdensome and costly regulations.

2. Lobbying Congress for legislation favorable to dealers and defeating unfavorable legislation.

The results supported two big decisions last year.

"You've got to put your ear to the ground and listen to what your members want you to do," Welch said.

When J.D. Power approached NADA about buying the Used Car Guide, it made sense, Welch said. And declining participation in the 401(k) plan, called NADART, combined with other retirement options for dealers meant that investment unit had run its course. NADA partnered with a company called Empower Retirement to establish a new NADA-branded retirement program. The services are provided by Great-West Life & Annuity Insurance Co. That change alone eliminated 100-plus staff positions, Welch said.

At the same time, NADA has expanded its Dealer Academy and 20 Groups. Participation in both is growing, Welch said.

On the public relations side, Welch hired political campaign veteran Jonathan Collegio in 2014 to revamp the organization's communications strategy. As Tesla's push to open factory-owned stores triggered a cascade of state-level battles over direct sales, NADA launched a Web page with information sheets and animated videos carrying the message that franchised car dealers are good for consumers, automakers and local communities. Video production was brought in-house, and the staff made a concerted effort to improve engagement through its Facebook and Twitter accounts.

As a lobbyist who works for car dealers, Welch jokingly calls himself the black sheep of his family. He's the only child who didn't follow his obstetrician father into health care. Even Welch's wife, Cheryl, is a nurse.

Welch was born in Detroit. He left and went to law school and, after becoming a partner in a Los Angeles law firm, unexpectedly found himself in the auto industry. He represented auto lenders such as General Motors Acceptance Corp. and one of two regional dealer associations in California. When the two associations merged in 1990, the resulting new statewide association recruited Welch. After six months of resistance, Welch agreed and moved to Sacramento to become director of government and legal affairs at what is now the California New Car Dealers Association. He rose to the association's top job in 2003.

During his time at the California association, Welch became known for standing up for dealers during conflicts with automakers. Welch says he found it "most galling" when the automakers ignored the law.

"There's been an imbalance in bargaining power between the manufacturers and dealers as long as I've been doing this," Welch said.

In the late 1990s, the association fought actions by GM to buy nine dealerships in the San Fernando Valley and consolidate them into four operated by dealer Wes Rydell, who purchased a minority stake in the stores. Dealers called the move a front for factory ownership.

"We had a big, knockdown, drag-out legislative battle over that one," Welch recalled. California law ultimately was amended to include tougher restrictions on an automaker's ability to own dealerships.

In 2011, Welch took on then-Chrysler Group over its new dealership in downtown Los Angeles, saying the store violated state law prohibiting factory ownership of a dealership within 10 miles of same-brand stores.

"We can't have rogue manufacturers not following the law and intentionally trying to circumvent it through sham devices to meet whatever the flavor-of-the-month new marketing strategy is," Welch told California regulators during a May 2011 hearing.

Chrysler ultimately sold the dealership and agreed to pay more than $900,000 in penalties and fees to settle the complaint.

That track record appealed to NADA search committee members tasked in 2012 with finding a new leader after former President Phil Brady departed to work at Phillips 66. The committee sought a president who would "lead more and follow less," according to the spec sheet developed to guide the effort.

That call for a more aggressive stance was largely directed at NADA's dealings with automakers. "There are a lot of issues right now related to two-tier pricing and facilities that NADA wants to be more forceful about," John McEleney, a former Iowa dealer and head of the search committee, said at the time.

Today, McEleney recalls what a "clear-cut" choice Welch was for the job. He was the only trade association executive in the running, and California's size and regulatory and legislative environment gave him a breadth of experience, McEleney said.

"He's been really well-accepted," said McEleney, NADA's 2009 chairman. "He's soft-spoken, but there's a lot going on there. He's very bright, very persuasive."

Dealers and their representatives applauded Welch's hiring.

Welch "was and is an extraordinary choice for NADA," said Jim Appleton, president of the New Jersey Coalition of Automotive Retailers. "He's done an exceptional job."

NADA Chairman Jeff Carlson calls Welch an "absolute diamond."

Some people who have been critical of NADA's direction still appreciate what Welch has brought to the organization.

"He's a very competent guy, and he's had a wealth of experience," said Ed Tonkin, an Oregon dealer and NADA chairman in 2010. "We were fortunate."

Don Hall, president of the Virginia Automobile Dealers Association, wants to see NADA take on automakers more publicly on subjects such as target-based incentives and recall policies. He cheered Welch's hiring in 2013 but tempers his assessment today.

"Peter has done a fabulous job of representing his board and the philosophies his board has. Now, I don't agree with his board, and that's the negative part," Hall said. "He has not led to the degree that he could because his board is unwilling to do so. As a person, I don't think I know anyone better than Peter. He's an honorable, decent, kind human being, and I admire him deeply."

While publicly challenging automakers isn't the strategy NADA has adopted, Welch noted that fighting the factories did come in third on the priority list established by the 2015 membership survey. And NADA does have very frank discussions with the automakers on issues of concern to dealers, he said.

But NADA also must look ahead to protect dealers' interests in Washington, D.C., and anticipate developments that will challenge dealers down the road.

"On our 100th anniversary, my direction from our board of directors is not to just sit down and celebrate that we somehow managed to stay in existence for 100 years," Welch said, "but, quite frankly, to focus on the next decade and the next 100 years."