On Monday, Ally Financial and TIME opened the nomination period for the 2015 TIME Dealer of the Year program, which has incorporated a new strategy to determine who will be in the running for the honor.

The process kicked off at the annual Automotive Trade Association Executives (ATAE) Summer Conference in Laguna Niguel, Calif.

This year, the winner and finalists will be selected by a panel composed of faculty from The Tauber Institute for Global Operations, a partnership between the Ross School of Business and the University of Michigan’s College of Engineering (CoE).

The panel will choose the 2015 finalists from each of the four National Automobile Dealers Association regions, and from those four finalists, the judges then will select the national winner.

ATAE, who represent state and metro area dealer associations throughout the country, can begin the process of selecting and nominating extraordinary dealers within their regions for the upcoming 2015 TIME Dealer of the Year award by visiting timedealeroftheyear.com.

To recognize the exemplary community involvement and leadership of these dealers, Ally provides a $1,000 grant to a qualified nonprofit organization chosen by each nominee, as well as additional grants for the winner and finalists.

The ATAE who nominates the 2015 TIME Dealer of the Year winner will also receive a $5,000 donation to the charity of their choice.

This year, Dennis Jungmeyer, of the Arkansas Automobile Dealers Association, nominated winner Jeff Teague, of Teague Auto Group in El Dorado, Ark. Jungmeyer chose to provide his grant to the CARTI Kids Program, which provides a support system for pediatric cancer patients. Ally has provided approximately $250,000 in grants to nonprofit organizations in connection with the TIME Dealer of the Year program.

Nominees for the 2015 award will be announced in October, and the winner will be named at the NADA Convention and Expo in San Francisco next January.

To learn more about the TIME Dealer of the Year program, visit timedealeroftheyear.com.