NEW ORLEANS, Oct. 13, 2012—Several industry organizations on Friday honored the achievements of collision repair industry professionals at an awards ceremony held at the National World War II Museum during Automotive Service & Repair Week (ASRW) 2012.
Ron Pyle, president and chief staff executive of the Automotive Service Association (ASA) hosted the awards event, which opened with a ceremony for graduates of the Automotive Management Institute (AMI) who earned the Accredited Automotive Manager (AAM) designation.
For the second consecutive year, FenderBender presented awards to the six winners of the fifth annual FenderBender Awards, sponsored by Valspar and Kia Motors America. Jake Weyer, editor of FenderBender, said the awards were developed “to recognize the most talented, dedicated and inspirational people in collision repair” across six categories: executive, management, shop worker, administrative support, vendor and wild card. The winners include:
• FenderBender executive award: Pat Beavers, chief operations officer of CollisionMax AutoBody & Glass Centers in Trevose, Pa.
• FenderBender management award: Dave Baylor, production manager at Gustafson Brothers Inc. in Huntington Beach, Calif.
• FenderBender administrative support award: Cynthia Hervin, bookkeeper at Suburban Auto Body in Little Canada, Minn.
• FenderBender shop worker award: Mike Hamilton, lead painter at ATA Collision CARSTAR in Overland Park, Kan.
• FenderBender vendor award: William Burnside, paint representative at Tri-State Coatings in Shreveport, La.
• FenderBender wildcard award: Peter Lock, automotive services and appliance repair department chairman and professor at Contra Costa College in San Pablo, Calif.
“What ties all of our winners together is their drive to go above and beyond the call of duty to improve their businesses, as well as the lives of their colleagues, customers and communities,” Weyer said.
Multiple other industry organizations also presented awards during the ceremony. A complete list of honorees is as follows:
• Tom B. Babcox Memorial scholarship: Peter Rudloff of Pete’s Garage Inc. in Newark, Del.
• Zurich High Octane scholarship: Joshua Ingram of Colchin Automotive in Arvada, Colo.
• AVI Education scholarship: Charlene Parlett, of Southeast Auto Service in Hinesville, Ga.
• BodyShop Business Magazine scholarship: Tommy Clayton of Tommy’s Dent Service in Hinesville, Ga.
• NASTF Recognition award: Automotive Service Excellence in Leesburg, Va.
• Richard Cossette/Gale Westerlund Memorial scholarship: Jennifer Kinney of Classic Auto Collision in Marquette, Mich.
• Motor Age Top Shop of the Year: Gene and Robin Morrill of Certified Automotive Specialists in Glendora, Calif.
• ABRN Top Shop of the Year: Collision Care Auto Body Specialists in Philadelphia, Pa.
• Women’s Industry Network (WIN) NACE scholarships: Jessica Crowley, SkillsUSA-Automotive Refinishing in Boise, Idaho; and Kristen Shaver, SkillsUSA-Collision Repair in Birch Run, Mich.
• Russ Verona Memorial/IBIS scholarship: Ron Nagy of Nagy’s Collision Specialists in Orrville, Ohio.
• Advanstar Chairman’s award: Bill Moss, EuroService Automotive in Warrenton, Va.
• SkillsUSA Collision Repair Technology Secondary Gold Medal Winner: Jason Lucius in Tiffin, Ohio
• SkillsUSA Collision Repair Technology Post-Secondary Gold Medal Winner: John Stanton in Greenville, Ill.
• ASA Alpha award: Betty Joe Young of Young’s Automotive Center in Houston
• ASA Phoenix award: Ron Nagy of Nagy’s Collision Specialists in Orrville, Ohio.
• ASA Chairman’s award, Bill Moss of EuroService Automotive in Warrenton, Va.
• ASA Legislative award: Kathryn van der Pol of Adolf Hoepfl & Son Garage in Houston
“I’d like to thank the ASRW organizers for putting together this event. It’s great to have an opportunity to publicly recognize the achievements of some of the industry’s most outstanding professionals,” FenderBender’s Weyer said. “Congratulations to all of the award winners and graduates.”
