John Van Alstyne, CEO and president of I-CAR, announced his intention to retire at the end of 2025, according to a news release.
Since joining I-CAR in December 2010, Van Alstyne has been instrumental in shaping I-CAR’s growth, vision, and success through his strategic direction and focus on serving the industry with excellence at all levels.
He has led a remarkable expansion of I-CAR’s product and service offerings, all aimed at better serving the industry. Van Alstyne put I-CAR on the path to financial stability, reinvesting over $46 million to better support the industry, and recently built a new technical center in the Chicagoland area that has served as a catalyst for advanced training, research, and development. This reflects today’s ongoing and emerging automotive technology complexities and spearheads a new comprehensive program aimed at improving the industry-critical technician shortage.
Over the past decade, he also led significant growth in I-CAR Gold Class shops, nearly quadrupling the Gold Class shop count to 9,295 at the end of 2023. I-CAR’s success under his tenure has created tremendous value for all industry stakeholders and, in turn, has helped to ensure the safety of millions of consumers.
Van Alstyne also led I-CAR through the global COVID-19 pandemic, initiating virtual course delivery and maintaining customer momentum through one of the most disruptive economic and social periods in recent history.
Jim Guthrie, I-CAR’s Chairman of the Board, said, ‘On behalf of the board, I would like to thank John for his extraordinarily positive and lasting impact on I-CAR, its customers, and its employees. Under John’s leadership, I-CAR has gone through a period of unprecedented growth and transformation, and he has created a collaborative culture that has led to I-CAR receiving national Top Workplace designation for the past two years. These achievements, coupled with his focus on talent development and delivering relevant educational programming, technical information, and services to the industry, position I-CAR for continued success. We are grateful for John’s significant contributions and look forward to working with him through the upcoming CEO & President selection and transition process.’
The board has identified a Selection Committee dedicated to hiring a successor who will continue to uphold I-CAR’s values, drive innovation, and lead the organization into its next chapter of growth.
