New awards recognize dealership service and parts superstars

Russell B. Hill, co-founder of FixedOps Marketing, was about to reserve a booth at this year's NADA Show in Las Vegas when he wondered if there was a more impactful way to spend that money for his business and dealership service, and parts clients and friends.

Someone on his staff suggested hosting an awards show honoring those in the dealership service and parts industry. Hill jumped on the idea, booked a Las Vegas bar to host it and called his friend Corey Smith, national fixed operations training manager for EasyCare, to see if he would be a co-sponsor.

"I think what made sense to me is I've been an advocate for NADA to show more love to fixed operations," Smith said. "That's what really resonated with me."

With about 30 days until the event, Hill and Smith started planning the inaugural Golden Wrench awards to take place the night before NADA officially began. The first task was coming up with a few award categories and people to honor.

"We wanted to recognize people that were humble and forward thinking and making a mark in the industry to improve it in a way to get rid of some of those stigmas that the automotive industry still has," Hill said.

They came up with five categories — Influencer, Pioneer, Visionary, Mentorship and Innovative Service Leader for dealership fixed ops departments. Hill and Smith discussed several names of people they knew in the industry who matched these categories and leaned on peers for suggestions as well. After much discussion, three winners for each category were selected.

"It was hard to narrow it down to just three because there was quite a few that we tossed around," Smith said.

Those honored were:

• Glenn Lundy, president, 800% Elite Automotive Club; author, The Legacy Titles
• Kaylee Felio, sales and marketing manager, PartsEdge; host, "Parts Girl Podcast"
• Ed Roberts, COO of Bozard Ford-Lincoln, St. Augustine, Fla.; author of Mile One

• Patrick Abad, general manager, Beaver Toyota, Cumming, Ga.
• Dustin Hightower, general manager, Apple Chevrolet, Tinley Park, Ill.
• Justin Pomeroy, executive vice president, Foundation Automotive, Houston

• Armina Mgerian, CEO, Nouri/Shaver Automotive Group, Costa Mesa, Calif.
• Allie Peters, vice president of service, Cavender Auto Group, San Antonio, Texas
• April Ancira, vice president, Ancira Automotive, San Antonio, Texas

• Michael Barich, "The Fixed Ops Doc," St. Johns, Fla.
• Kieran Stack, automotive service and parts trainer; author of "Service Advisor 101", Melbourne, Australia
• Joshua Taylor, founder, Wrench Turners training and host of "Wrench Turners" podcast, Wasaga Beach, Ont.

• Mills Auto Group, Pineville, N.C.
• Sheehy Auto Stores, Fairfax, Va.
• #1 Cochran Auto Group, Monroeville, Pa.

Hill and Smith already have their sights set on the second annual Golden Wrench at the NADA Show next year in New Orleans. They're throwing around ideas, including a way people could publicly nominate someone and cast a vote.

"We were really humbled and honored to be able to honor other people in our industry. It was amazing," Hill said. "And people felt the same way; that's what really resonated. Yeah, we're doing this again in a bigger way next year."

Smith said at this year's event he didn't want the night to end. But once it did, he already started thinking about next year.

'This is going to be bigger and better than the first one," Smith said. "And we've learned so much from the first one. It was a chance to really focus on fixed ops. I can't wait."