ALEXANDRIA, Va. –

Former AutoNation executive and current Maroone USA founder and chief executive officer Mike Maroone is taking home the hardware as the 2022 David F. Mungenast Lifetime Achievement Award winner.

The board of the American International Automobile Dealers Association presents the award each year to “an industry leader who possesses a similar community spirit and devotion to the international nameplate auto industry as its namesake.”

In a news release Thursday, AIADA president and CEO Cody Lusk said: “Mike perfectly embodies the community-minded, forward-thinking spirit of this award.

“The auto retail industry in the United States owes a great deal of thanks to Mike, and dealers like him, who have spent their careers improving the lives of others and raising the bar for how vehicles are sold in the United States,” Lusk said.

Maroone joined the family business (New York- and Florida-based Maroone Auto Group) with his father, Al Maroone, in 1975.

He joined AutoNation in 1997, working there 18 years and serving as president, chief operating officer and director.

He founded Maroone USA in 2017. The group has Chevrolet, Honda, Ford and Volkswagen store throughout Colorado Spring, Colo.; Longmont, Colo.; and West Palm Beach, Fla.

Maroone is a board member of the Cleveland Clinic enterprise board of directors and is the board chair of Cleveland Clinic Florida. The Maroone Cancer Center is also that the latter clinic.

He will be presented the award on March 13 during AIADA’s 52nd Annual Meeting and Luncheon in Las Vegas.