Auction Academy, a professional education program developed by TPC Management, held its first session for the Senior Managers Class in Nashville, TN on November 29 – December 1. The session’s faculty included a number of well-known auction industry leaders with long and diverse careers in the auction business: Ricky Beggs, Black Book; Rick Pomeroy, OVE; David Nutter, Direct Auction Services; Kay Hudson and Rick Guyer, CARS Recon Inc.; Randy Dohse and Alan Lang, DSC; Joe Miller, AutoIMS; and TPC Management staff Pierre Pons, Dick Curtis and Tom Stewart.
Industry veteran Tony Moorby opened the first session of Auction Academy’s Senior Managers’ Class.Opening the session was Tony Moorby, industry veteran and former CEO of ADT Auctions, who spoke on the history of the industry and his long-time career. “I was fortunate enough to earn my way into some great management training programs when I first got into the car business and their content has served me well over the years,” observes Moorby. “It’s great to see this quality of faculty participation so early in Auction Academy’s program; it should signal the benefits of training to all in the industry.”
“Auction Academy has put together an impressive array of industry advocates as presenters and sponsors, to the benefit of auction operators and more importantly, the auctions’ customers,” he added.
The class included a rigorous classroom curriculum and a tour of Manheim’s Nashville Auto Auction. Class topics included human resources, vehicle valuation, facilities upgrades, benchmark metrics, AutoIMS reporting, online selling technology, and dealer funding.
Says McCathren: “The first meeting of Auction Academy’s Second Class Group engendered many good questions and incisive discussion. In addition to learning detailed information to take back to their respective auctions, the students were able to draw on their auction management experience and contribute to the ideas and information being presented. The participation of the class, the level of discussion and the exchange of information demonstrates that TPC was right in its belief that the independent auction community is committed to this level of training.”
The first session of Auction Academy’s Senior Managers Group after class meetings in Nashville, TN.Participating in Auction Academy’s Second Class Group are Josh Boender (Dyer Auto Auction), Tommy Rogers (Carolina Auto Auction), Eric Autenrieth (Indiana Auto Auction), Chris Angelicchio (Pittsburgh Auto Auction), Lawrence Cubitt (Flint Auto Auction), Dave Ward (Brasher’s Idaho Auto Auction), Steve Goettling (KCI Auto Auction), Matt Alombro (Louisiana Auto Auction), JD Glover (EPIAA), Justin Brown (Missouri Auto Auction), Shaun Miller (Statewide Auto Auction), Scott Crane (Brasher’s Reno Auto Auction), Mike Shaub (Bel Air Auto Auction), Justin Booth (Brasher’s Salt Lake Auto Auction), Steve Doyle ( DAA Northwest), and Bridget Higginbotham (Louisiana Auto Auction).
Dave Ward, Operations Manager, Brasher’s Idaho A/A“I was very impressed with the caliber of the instructors at this first session of the Senior Managers Class,” said Dave Ward, Operations Manager at Brasher’s Idaho Auto Auction. “It’s of tremendous benefit to learn from people with such depth of experience in our industry. I also learned a lot from the auction tour, which offered a rare opportunity for an in-depth look at how another auction operates.”
JD Glover, Assistant GM at EIPAA“We were fortunate to learn from the ‘best of the best’,” agrees JD Glover, Assistant General Manager at EPIAA. “As the AGM of a fairly new auction, I found particular value in the benchmarking class, which gave me a lot of material to help me with projects I’m working on at EPIAA. In addition to the class presentations, we benefited from interaction not just with the instructors, but with the students from the other auctions as well. When you mix the two, that’s where you really learn about the industry.”
Auction Academy is an industry-focused continuing education program. It provides a two-year training and development experience for automotive auction professionals, structured like an Executive MBA program. With faculty drawn from expert practitioners around the country, Auction Academy’s programs are designed to enhance essential skill sets, promote best practices, and yield better auction performance. The curriculum includes site visits, field trips and work with industry experts in all areas of auction operations.
McCathren acknowledged the role Auction Academy’s industry sponsors have played in the program’s success. Said McCathren: “We are fortunate to have the support of key players in our industry, including Black Book, Designworks AMG, OVE, DSC, Used Car News, Capital Automotive Reconditioning, Direct Reconditioning, Auto Remarketing, United Road, Xcira, Auction Insurance Agency, Auction Access and Auto Check. Without them, and our Session Sponsors and Hosts, we would not have been able to launch Auction Academy so successfully and so quickly.”
The next Auction Academy session for Senior Managers will be held in Orlando February 7 – 9, 2013 and will include a visit to the National Automobile Dealers Association Annual Convention. Auction Academy’s Next Generation Group will meet in Birmingham, Alabama February 21-23. They will be hosted by Robinson Adams Insurance February 21 – 23, and will tour two auction facilities in the area: ABC Birmingham and ADESA Birmingham.
For additional information about Auction Academy, contact Randall McCathren by email: rmccathren@auctionacademy.net, or by telephone: (615) 383-1930; or visit the web site www.auctionacademy.net.