DETROIT -

David Baker, Mercedes-Benz of Albuquerque, Albuquerque, N.M.

Of his automotive career, nominee Baker said, “It is most rewarding to help others find joy in purchasing and maintaining their vehicles, while helping employees provide for their families and contributing to charity along the way.”

Baker is a 1987 graduate of Alba-Golden High School in Alba, Texas. He earned a bachelor’s degree in political science while attending Tyler Junior College in Tyler, Texas, and the University of Texas at Tyler, where he graduated in 1991.

His first experience in the automotive field was working for Grubbs Automotive Group in Dallas, Texas, handling sales for Lincoln Mercury and Mazda. His career also took him to Arlington, Texas, and New Orleans, Louisiana, before he settled in Albuquerque. Baker joined Freeman Automotive Group in 2005, where he is currently a partner and dealer principal for the Mercedes-Benz store.

A recipient of the Porsche Premier Dealer award and the Audi Magna Society award, Baker has lent his time and talents to the board of directors for the Presbyterian Ear Institute in Albuquerque, a non-profit organization and school which serves New Mexicans who suffer from hearing loss, and Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

To further support the Presbyterian Ear Institute, Baker’s dealership hosts a golf tournament fundraiser each year. “Through a matching program, we raise about 10 percent of the institute’s operating budget,” he added.

Baker was nominated for the TIME Dealer of the Year award by Charles R. Henson, president of the New Mexico Automotive Dealers Association. He and his wife, Janet, have three children.

Dick Brewbaker, Brewbaker Motors, Montgomery, Ala.

According to nominee Brewbaker, “One of the things my dad taught me as I was learning the business was, to quote him, ‘Everybody sells good cars; our competitive edge comes from our people.’ He was right. You can run a highly profitable, efficient enterprise and create a place where employees feel comfortable, empowered and valuable.”

While many of his employees have been with the company, founded by his grandfather in 1940, for decades, the car business was not Brewbaker’s first passion. He graduated from Alabama’s Montgomery Academy in 1979 and earned a B.S., cum laude, in history and economics from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn,, in 1983. After college, Brewbaker taught high school history and coached football before joining the family car dealership in 1987.

“I have held virtually every position at Brewbaker Motors,” he said, taking over operations in 2002 and, along with his brother-in-law, helping to develop the dealership into a multi-brand facility while receiving numerous awards for customer service. He also continued to work with high school students as a part-time history teacher and wrestling coach.

“The Brewbaker family has passionately supported education for generations,” he said. In 1978, his grandfather donated a 76-acres site in memory of his grandmother, Cassie Leta Brewbaker, a public school teacher and civic leader, for an elementary school complex in Montgomery. And Brewbaker has served on the state legislature, working diligently to further educational initiatives. He helped start an education reform group which was instrumental in passing the Education Reform Act of 1994, giving Alabama the highest graduation standards in the country. Brewbaker also oversaw the reform of Alabama’s teacher tenure system, the implementation of Alabama’s first school choice program and the passage of an act which empowers the State Board of Education to force reform in local school systems that fail in their duty to children. “Nothing is more important to a community than how it educates its young people,” he explained.

Brewbaker has also served in the Alabama Army National Guard, as a district manager for the Boy Scouts and was on the board for the Salvation Army, among other organizations. He received a Man of the Year award from the Boys & Girls Clubs of Montgomery, which aids the poorest children in the city. He is a member of the Montgomery Lions Club and actively participates in groups providing services to the disabled in Alabama, such as the Spina Bifida Association. Brewbaker added, “On a quarterly basis, we distribute approximately 10 percent of our dealership’s profit to various local charities.” His company has supported the United Way, Red Cross, Family Sunshine Center (serving victims of family violence), Sawyerville Day Camp (summer program for disadvantaged children), plus many others. Each Christmas, his staff adopts several local families in need, fulfilling their “wish lists” for holiday gifts.

“We strongly believe in supporting and giving back to the local community,” Brewbaker said.

Brewbaker was nominated for the TIME Dealer of the Year award by Thomas Dart, president of the Automobile Dealers Association of Alabama. He and his wife, Ruth, have five children.

Gary Brown, Brown’s Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram Fiat, Patchogue, N.Y.

“My most meaningful civic achievement has been the success of the dealership over the past 20 years, which has enabled us to support many local charities” nominee Brown said of the business started by his grandfather in 1917.

Brown prepped cars and pumped gas at the family’s Brown’s Garage while attending Bellport High School in Brookhaven, New York, where he graduated in 1977. He then studied mechanical engineering and received a B.S.M.A. in 1981 from Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worcester, Massachusetts.

Following college, Brown was a production engineer at Allied Chemical and production supervisor at Allied Signal in Hopewell, Virginia, where he learned leadership skills that served him well when he joined the family dealership as general manager in 1987, buying a 33 percent stake from his uncle and partnering with his father. He purchased the remaining shares in 1992 and today is sole owner.

“As a third-generation owner, I’ve changed the family business from a gas station repair shop to a large, single-point Chrysler facility,” Brown said. He moved the business twice to better locations and added brands to his portfolio. His daughter is now the fourth generation of Browns to be part of the organization.

Brown noted, “It’s very rewarding to continue my family’s legacy in this area. When I started in 1987 with my father, we had 12 employees and we now employ more than 100. During the downturn of 2008 and 2009, we didn’t reduce staff. We gambled by advertising more to keep the same level of business and, hence, the same number of employees.”

In addition to boosting the local economy while growing his business, Brown is also proud of his contributions to the auto industry and area causes. He currently serves as chairman of Chrysler’s National Dealer Council, which he considers both an honor and a privilege. “I was asked by my fellow Chrysler dealers in 2009 to help the Chrysler leadership pull out of bankruptcy and be competitive again as a franchise.”

On the community front, Brown was recognized by Brookhaven Hospital in 2011 for his many years of service on the board of trustees and for his financial contributions. He has received the Paul Harris award from Rotary, a Good Deed award from Suffolk County Boy Scouts and has been honored for his support of the annual Fuoco Memorial Golf “Feastival,” which raises money for Camp Pa-Qua-Tuck in Center Moriches, New York, a haven for children and young adults with physical and developmental disabilities. Brown has also supported many service organizations, including Rotary, Lions Clubs, Kiwanis, Boy Scouts, Boys & Girls Clubs of America, the American Cancer Society and its Relay For Life event, YMCA and Habitat for Humanity.

Brown was nominated for the TIME Dealer of the Year award by Mark Schienberg, president of the Greater New York Automobile Dealers Association. He and his wife, Lynn, have three children.

Editor’s Note: The original versions of these features as well as a list of all nominees and past winners can be found at www.allydealerheroes.com.

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