ORLANDO, Fla. -

Education — either at the family dealership, association training program or through experience in unrelated industries — all helped these potential award winners to successful auto sales and management careers.

In the first group of profiles of nominees for theTIME Dealer of the Year Award, these store executives all share what’s important to them — in and out of the showroom.

The awards program, which is produced in cooperation with the National Automobile Dealers Association and sponsored by Ally Financial, aims to recognize the nation’s most successful auto dealers who also demonstrate a long-standing commitment to community service.

All of these dealers are profiled on a special website for the award:
allydealerheroes.com/nominees/all

Auto Remarketing plans to share some of these nominee profiles from allydealerheroes.com. between now and when the winner is announced during the NADA Convention and Expo that runs next month in Orlando, Fla.

Jim Addis, Lake City Ford, Coeur D’Alene, Idaho

“The most rewarding aspect of my career has been to work alongside my father,” said nominee Jim Addis, a second-generation dealer.

A 1978 graduate of Jenkins High School in Chewelah, Wash., Addis studied at Spokane Falls Community College in Spokane, Wash., and Washington State University in Pullman, earning a bachelor’s degree in economics and a bachelor’s degree in marketing by 1984. He started working at his father’s first dealership, Tom Addis Ford, at age 14, and advanced from the ground up — washing cars, performing mechanical tasks, learning about warranties and parts — before serving as vice president/general manager for his family’s Ford and Dodge stores.

“The ability to learn is priceless,” Addis said of his on-the-job training. “And the opportunity to grow and thrive in the new and changing marketplace is an exciting, rewarding challenge.”

Addis relies on his extensive experience to help further the cause of auto dealers on a state and national level. He was twice elected president of the Idaho Automobile Dealers Association and served on Dodge’s Dealer Council. He is currently Idaho chairman of NADA’s Dealers Election Action Committee.

For his community, Addis is currently working with the Salvation Army to underwrite a program that would transport at-risk middle-school students to the Ray & Joan Kroc Center after school. “These students will be able to participate in all Kroc activities, including sports, exercise, mentoring, spiritual help and tutoring,” he explained.

Addis generously donates vehicles to various causes. Addis gives a new Ford every year to a student selected from the six area high schools. Lake City Ford also provided two GEM electric vehicles to the two Coeur d’Alene high schools. A member of the Rotary, he gives one vehicle every year to the club for its annual auction — the biggest-ticket item offered — which funds projects in the area.

“It serves as a reminder to the all (Rotary) members and the businesses they represent that we can all contribute for the betterment of our community,” Addis added.

In addition, Addis hosts Ford’s Drive One 4 UR School test-drive program twice a year, raising up to $6,000 per event for area schools. He has served as a board member for the EXCEL Foundation, an endowment that provides grants to local teachers for projects that schools cannot afford. Addis regularly contributes to Christmas for All, a non-profit program that helps families in need, and St. Vincent de Paul’s emergency shelters. He also made a donation to help build a new center for the Boys & Girls Club.

Addis was nominated for the TIME Dealer of the Year Award by Trent Wright, executive vice president of the Idaho Automobile Dealers Association. Jim and his wife, Terri, have one child.

Michael Alford, Marine Chevrolet Cadillac, Jacksonville, N.C.

“I attribute much of the dealership’s success to our employees,” nominee Michael Alford said. “Since acquiring Marine Chevrolet Cadillac, by far the most rewarding aspect of the journey has been the professional development and advancement of our key personnel.”

A 1982 graduate of Virginia Episcopal School in Lynchburg, Va., where he excelled in sports and academics, Alford was named a John Motley Morehead Scholar (now Morehead-Cain Scholar), a prestigious honor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Today, he serves on the regional selection committee for the program.

He graduated from UNC in 1986 with a bachelor’s degree in political science. He carved out a career in real estate finance, working as a banker until his father-in-law offered him the opportunity to join the family business in 1992.

Alford purchased Marine Chevrolet Cadillac in 1997.

“I worked in each of the five company departments while attending the NADA Dealer Academy,” he said. “I credit the academy with helping to immerse me into the nuances of the automobile industry.”

Since arriving in Jacksonville, N.C., Alford has worked hard to make a difference for his employees and the community, which is near Camp Lejeune Marine Corps Base. One of his proudest accomplishments was creating the Military Growth Task Force in 2007, assembling leaders to address social and infrastructure needs following a Marine Corps expansion that resulted in 83,000 new residents to the region. To date, 76 percent of the group’s recommendations have been accomplished or are being addressed. According to Alford, “This collaborative effort involving representatives from our federal, state and local governments, as well as civic, military and business leaders was a first.”

In 2010 Alford was appointed to the N.C. Board of Transportation. He has also served in leadership and advisory roles for many organizations, including Jacksonville/Onslow Committee of 100 (economic development), Jacksonville/Onslow Chamber of Commerce, JobReady Steering Committee and the United Way, for which he broke fundraising records in his county while serving as campaign chair. And he makes scores of annual contributions to local and national charities.

For his altruistic works, Alford was named Civic Honoree in 2011 by the Jacksonville/ Onslow Chamber of Commerce. “I am grateful to have had the opportunity to contribute to the community and state that has given so much to my work family and my immediate family,” said Alford.

Alford was nominated for the TIME Dealer of the Year Award by Robert Glaser, president of the North Carolina Automobile Dealers Association. He and his wife, Alicia, have three children.

Ernesto Ancira Jr., Ancira Auto Group, San Antonio, Texas

“The most rewarding time in my automotive career was actually this year, when we had the most profitable year in history,” nominee Ernesto Ancira Jr. said. “I saw our team grow and accept the new challenges we faced, creating more opportunities for our business to grow and prosper.”

Ancira, who started his career outside of the automotive industry, is a 1961 graduate of St. Joseph’s High School in Laredo, Texas. He earned a bachelor’s degree in marketing from St. Edward’s University in Austin, Texas, in 1964, and then worked for Gillette and Kimberly-Clark in Mexico City before deciding to settle in San Antonio in 1972.

“There was an auto dealership that was available,” Ancira said. “It had been run by the staff since the death of the owner a year before.”

Although there were about 80 candidates vying for the dealership, he relied on his business acumen to negotiate with the heirs and Chevrolet to acquire it. Today, he owns multiple retail stores in Texas, and his daughter and son-in-law hold key positions in the company.

Ancira has served the state of Texas as commissioner of the governor’s Hispanic Advisory Committee and member of the Strategic Planning Commission. He was also on the executive board for the Greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce; advisory committee for Crime Stoppers of San Antonio; board member for the Boy Scouts of America and the United Way, among other leadership positions. He was campaign chair for Golf San Antonio and tournament chairman for the Southwestern Bell Dominion Senior PGA Tour for 15 years.

His most important civic achievement was working with the Greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce to develop Cibolo Canyons — TPC Golf Resort. “This brought new tourism and energy to our city, and with that, brought more jobs and money to our community,” he said.

Distinguished awards earned by Ancira include the San Antonio Hispanic Chamber Businessman of the Year, San Antonio Business Hall of Fame and Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund Corporate Responsibility Award. Yet the most meaningful award he ever received is a glass plaque given to him by his staff. “It helped me realize how I was able to enhance the quality of their lives,” he said.

Ancira was nominated for the TIME Dealer of the Year Award by Bill Wolters, president of the Texas Automobile Dealers Association. He and his wife, Robin, have four children and seven grandchildren.

Barbara Moses Atkins, Moses Honda Volkswagen, Huntington, W.Va.

“While I value the special relationships I have developed with my customers, both old and new, and the satisfaction of their returning to our dealership over the years,” nominee Barbara Moses Atkins said, “I can honestly say my biggest reward is the satisfaction coming from working with my special employees that have become part of my family.”

A 1972 graduate of Huntington High School in Huntington, W.Va., Atkins earned a bachelor’s degree, cum laude, in math from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville in 1976. During high school and college, she worked in various capacities at the dealership founded by her father, Jackson F. Moses.

“I started as a girl taking care of the Coke machines, which taught me about inventory control, pricing and profit margins,” she said.

After college, Atkins worked for an oil company in Ashland, Ky., before leaving to raise her children. In 1994, she returned to the business world as manger of Moses Honda and added Volkswagen to the mix in 1997. Today, her two brothers and nephew also run dealerships under the Moses Automotive Group.

As dealer manager at Moses Honda Volkswagen, Atkins finds working with her team to be very rewarding. She said, “We spend so many hours together that there is mutual respect and an understanding of what is to be expected in our business in terms of integrity, honesty and taking care of customers to the best of our ability.”

Atkins also works hard to extend that nurturing spirit to the community, having served on the boards of the Hospice of Huntington, Huntington Museum of Art, Marshall University Yeager Scholars and the Marshall University Foundation. She has supplied a new vehicle to a member of Marshall University’s athletic coaching staff since 1995.

The Moses family has received awards for generous contributions to the Emogene Dolin Jones Hospice House of Huntington, where the entrance lobby is named for their mother, Sue, and Marshall University’s Erikson Alumni Center, Foundation Hall, where the boardroom is commemorated for their father, who was a graduate. Her family has been a supporter of the school for more than 50 years.

Atkins values her involvement with the Huntington Museum of Art and her most fulfilling work was on the education committee. “I feel the arts are so essential to a thriving community,” she said. “We created tours and classes involving every elementary school in the area. With funding essentially gone for the arts in public schools, it was so rewarding to see how the children benefited from our museum.”

Atkins was nominated for the TIME Dealer of the Year Award by Ruth Lemmon, president of the West Virginia Automobile & Truck Dealers Association. She has three children.

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