DETROIT, July 29, 2014—Randy Stabler, co-founder and president of California-based Pride Collision Centers, will start a two-year term as the 17th Collision Industry Conference (CIC) chairman beginning in January.
CIC Executive Director Jeff Hendler made the announcement during the organization’s July conference at Detroit’s Cobo Center while backed by a group of past CIC chairs. Former chairs decide together who to appoint for the position, and Hendler, who held the job himself from 1987–88, said the process is thorough and nonstop, with new candidates being vetted as soon as a new chair is appointed.
“It’s a continual process of watching who’s on the committees, who’s chairing the committees, who’s in the room doing the job that CIC looks to perpetuate,” Hendler said.
Stabler, an industry veteran with a longtime history of involvement in CIC, will replace George Avery of State Farm, whose term was tumultuous at times because of the rollout of the insurance company’s controversial parts-bidding program through PartsTrader at the time of his appointment. Avery will officially hand over the reins to Stabler at the November CIC meeting, where they are each expected to address the conference. They did not speak to the role change at the Detroit meeting, but did offer brief comments to FenderBender.
“It was a surprise,” said Stabler, who also serves on FenderBender’s editorial advisory board and was the subject of a 2012 feature. “But I really think it’s an opportunity to give back. I’ve been in business for 31 years, started as a single shop and trying to improve and get better everyday, and to now have seven locations and 180 employees, I’ve had some amount of success and this is an opportunity to give back.”
Stabler, whose business is based in the Los Angeles area, says CIC has been a big contributor to his success.
“If you’re not reinventing yourself and being on the cutting edge, you’re falling behind in anything you do,” he said. “It’s a lot of work to come to the meetings. It’s a lot of cost to come to the meetings, but you get nuggets of information from the people that are here, and you never know when it’s going to come out. It may be stuff that you know, but you’re always going to get something else.”
Avery said the past chairs are deeply invested in not only finding a qualified individual to lead CIC, but also appointing the “right person for the right time.” Stabler is that person for 2015–16, Avery said, but he wanted to reserve further comments for the November meeting.
Hendler said Stabler has proven his ability to lead during three decades of CIC involvement. And one attribute stood out in particular.
“Randy has demonstrated his ability to set his own personal agenda aside, look at the issues from every angle, and lead from there,” Hendler said. “And that’s the trait we most look for.”
The November CIC meeting is set for Nov. 6 in Las Vegas.
