FRANKLIN, Tenn. -

ServNet’s auction owners traveled to Detroit earlier this month for a three-day event that included a “Meet the Owners” luncheon, the owners’ semi-annual business meeting, a visit to the Ford Rouge Manufacturing Plant and a Ride and Drive event at Chrysler headquarters in Auburn Hills, Mich.

The group also visited with remarketers from Chrysler, Ford, General Motors, Ally Bank and ACC along with Detroit-based media representatives, Black Book and United Road Services.

At this year’s Meet the Owners event, ServNet introduced its new president for the 2012-2013 term: Charles Nichols, president of BSCAmerica, which operates two ServNet facilities. These operations are Bel Air Auto Auction and Tallahassee Auto Auction.

Jeff Brasher, owner of Brasher’s Reno Auto Auction and ServNet’s president for the 2009-2011 term, assumed responsibilities as the group’s chairman of the board.

Bruce Beam (Dealers Auto Auction of Oklahoma City) will serve as vice president, while Patty Stanley (Carolina Auto Auction/Indiana Auto Auction) will serve as the group’s treasurer for the next two years.

Two newly elected board members were also introduced at the meeting: Brad Sturgeon (Dealers Auto Auction of the Rockies) and Kevin Brown (Missouri Auto Auction). Brown also serves as ServNet’s board member to the International Automotive Remarketers Alliance.

Also featured at the Meet the Owners luncheon was guest speaker John Stossel, television commentator known for his work on ABC’s 20/20 and the Fox Network.

A winner of 19 Emmy Awards and honored five times the National Press Club, ServNet noted Stossel has distinguished himself with in-depth reporting on a variety of consumer topics from pop culture to government and business.

“We appreciated the time that our industry partners here in Detroit were able to spend with us,” Nichols stated.

“Although we see them at the various industry events, even most recently at the NAAA Annual Conference in Chicago, we feel it is of benefit to all of us — as ServNet auctions, and as national remarketers — to meet directly, both to share insights into the market and better anticipate the needs and expectations of our auction customers,” Nichols continued.

“We are all in this business together, and we maintain that one of the best tools a national remarketer has at his or her disposal is a strong relationship with the owner — the decision-maker — of a ServNet auction,” Nichols went on to say. “Working together, we can not only refine auction procedures for the most efficient disposal of inventory, but can develop the best market exposure for those vehicles anywhere in the country.”