Eighteen new graduates, who are employees of dealerships nationwide, were announced by NCM Associates this week as the second graduating class of the company’s year-long General Management Executive Program.

NCM’s General Management Executive Program consists of a series of two-and-a-half day sessions conducted over 11 months, which the company says are designed to equip current and future automotive dealership executives for long-term success in retail automotive management, by emphasizing dealership financial and operational best practices. 

The students, all who serve in management positions in automotive dealerships, received certificates of completion at a reception and dinner in their honor, held in Kansas City, Mo., on Tuesday.

“I personally admire and respect the fact that you had the willingness and the discipline to step away from your operations for the purpose of educating yourself and for educating others in a peer collaboration environment over the past 11 months,” NCM Associates president and chief executive officer Paul Faletti Jr. said in a video message to the graduates.

“As a graduate, you have an intrinsic link to our organization and I encourage you to take advantage of that over the coming years as you encounter new opportunities and challenges within your own retail operations. At the same time, I hope the conversations and relationships you’ve established with your classmates will continue in the years going forward, and I encourage you to take advantage of that resource, as well,” Faletti said.

NCM Institute, begun in 2010, uses a combination of instructors and visiting faculty from its Retail Operations Consulting and 20 Groups divisions to teach the management and leadership best practices in use in some of the nation’s leading automotive dealerships. 

Garry House, director of the NCM Institute Center for Automotive Retail Excellence, said, “Our faculty is comprised of NCM’s broad bench of retail automotive industry experts and former dealership executives. Many of our instructors are actively working in dealerships with their clients using the principles we teach at the NCM Institute. They see first-hand the results of the consistent and ongoing execution of the processes and structures we advocate, and they bring their real-world retail automotive management expertise to the classroom on behalf of our students.”

Graduates receiving their certificates of completion this week were:

Hal Foster, Vic Bailey Volkswagen
Ray Crawford, Audi of Rochester Hills
Josh Harris, Toyota of Wausau
Greg Mauch, Ballweg Automotive Group
Adam Fitzpatrick, Ballweg Automotive Group
Regina Dahm, Motor City MINI
Amanda Ledezma, Cable Dahmer Chevrolet
John Killian, Clinton Honda
Rick Carr, Robertson’s Palmdale Honda
Bryce Miller, Paul Miller Audi
Scott Clidence, Jeff Wyler Chevrolet of Columbus
Dale McMullen, Westside Lexus
Bill Long, Vaden Auto Group
Todd Berman, Berman Auto Group
Spiro Gousios, Bill Jacobs Plainfield
Neal Wilson, Dan Vaden Chevrolet Cadillac of Brunswick
Eric Frehsee, Tamaroff Motors
Rob Walker, Infiniti of Memphis.

A third GMEP class will graduate in June. Sessions for the fourth class, which is forming now, will commence on March 4.