Eddie Lafferty’s auto industry career began when his friend’s grandfather asked him to help manage his Porsche dealership.

“I ended up doing very well and sold out his cars, and then it kind of led to a life in retail,” Lafferty said. He eventually moved to wholesale and is currently general manager at Manheim Seattle. Now he continues his role as a wholesale industry leader to become the next president of the National Auto Auction Association.

But before moving to the wholesale side, Lafferty lived the retail life at several dealerships in Washington state for 20-plus years, working in areas such as service, finance, sales management and used car management.

He found an opportunity on the wholesale side as a fleet-lease manager with Manheim in 2008 and accelerated through the ranks, including factory accounts and government services.

“[I] was pretty successful in that, was very fortunate … had a lot of substantial growth in our business. That helped propel my career growth,” he said.

He became an assistant general manager around 2012 and then general manager at Manheim Nevada in 2015 before landing his current role in returning to Manheim Seattle in 2019. He noted that Seattle was the first Manheim location to close during the COVID pandemic.

“So, that was quite an experience spending the majority of every day … deciding how we’re going to manage our business going forward and then seeing subsequent locations begin to close all across the country as it spread,” he said. “Then we were the second-to-last location to open back up, so it was a long haul.”

The power of associations

His long industry career has included long-time support of NAAA, and he currently participates on NAAA’s Education and Training Committee. He has also worked with the Automotive Remarketing Alliance, the Washington State Independent Auto Dealers Association, and the Washington State Auto Dealers Association.

Lafferty will become NAAA president at the association’s World Remarketing Convention, and his diverse experience could be an asset as he works toward several goals in his leadership position with the association.

Empowering NAAA chapters to be more engaged and to participate in processes is one of those goals.

The COVID pandemic wreaked havoc on various aspects of the auction industry because everybody became less connected, Lafferty said, adding that he will work toward greater connection among members.

“We were leaning a little bit more in digital, emails, those kinds of things, and we want to empower these chapters to provide a little bit more outreach to help connect members, provide content to them that helps them manage their businesses and be current with the changes within the industry as well,” Lafferty said.

He continued, “Rather than just having a governing high-level association, we really want to push this out locally, where there’s stronger relationships or a more connected body with people who are out there [who] can help ensure that the message is being spread.

“So, I’m really giving some of the chapter presidents and their teams the opportunity to kind of connect with other auctions out there to help fortify the association itself and relationships that we have.”

Staying ahead of changes occurring within the industry is another of his goals.

“We want to anticipate what those changes are and just kind of be ahead of the curve,” he said.

Cyber progress

Cybersecurity is one of those changes, and Lafferty believes his company is aligned closely with what NAAA is working on in that area.

“Cybersecurity is always top of mind, helping to protect not just our auctions but also our clients as well,” Lafferty said.

He mentioned NAAA’s cybersecurity initiative, which involves exchanging ideas and best practices and discussing the best methods to keep association members informed of cybersecurity trends, active attacks and threats, and data breaches. He said the initiative has made progress in working with some industry partners to help prevent bigger issues from spreading to other auctions.

Guidance from the task force could be especially helpful for smaller auctions, he said.

“That’s been really helpful, I think, to get some information in the hands of these smaller independents that may not necessarily have those resources that some of the larger chains do to help protect themselves against some of the cybercrime that’s occurring,” he said.
Engaged members, impactful events

Lafferty is looking to give some of the NAAA chapter presidents and their teams the opportunity to connect with other auctions through direct outreach, meaning building more structure with the chapters.

He has the experience necessary to reach that goal. As mentioned earlier, Lafferty’s experience in various sectors of the industry began in retail working in the sales, finance, and service departments for several auto dealerships in the state of Washington. After moving to wholesale with stints at Manheim Seattle and Manheim Nevada, he returned to Manheim Seattle in his current position.

“We just completed a big remodel of our lobby, and we’re working on our arena lanes now, so it’s all exciting to kind of refresh the place.”
Providing “the most impactful events” is another goal Lafferty has set for his term as NAAA president, and he noted that the association recently partnered with the Automotive Remarketing Alliance on a joint presentation of the Spring Remarketing Exchange, which will take place next March.

“That’s a really exciting development and kind of pares down the number of events that we have to choose to attend to while we’re trying to manage our budget, so we can at least cross one of those off now,” he said.

One change for this year’s World Remarketing Convention is that Lafferty will take the gavel as NAAA president earlier in the week and run the rest of the conference from that point on.

“I’m super excited to be able to get to take over the reins of the association and [stand] on the shoulders of some giants here — Eric (Autenrieth) and Craig (Amelung) have both done such tremendous work throughout their terms and I only hope to … continue on all of their success.”