Special Profile Series: Steve Kapusta

CARY, N.C. -

AR: Tell us about home, where you grew up.

Kapusta: I grew up in a suburb of Detroit, Sterling Heights. This is home for me with nearly all of my family living in the area. My mom lives nearby as do my two sisters.

I was actually born in the city of Detroit and then moved to Sterling Heights when I was about 5 years old. Back then, the entire area was a big automotive town … the Big 3 … large community of blue-collar workers.

Nearly everyone had a connection to the automotive world, and my dad was no different. He worked for a tool-and-die company that was an automotive supplier. Nearly everyone in my neighborhood was either in the trades — construction, roofing, electrical — worked for an automotive supplier or directly for a manufacturer like General Motors, Chrysler or Ford.

AR: Your automotive connection stretches back as far as you can remember.

Kapusta: True. Working for a tool-and-die shop, Dad was a jack-of-all-trades, and I’ll admit a master of some! (laughter) I think it is safe to say I got that gene from him.

I remember my dad when I was growing up as always having his hands in something. He had a true entrepreneurial streak and was not the type of guy who just went to his plant and did a job and came home to the easy chair and the TV.

AR: How so?

Kapusta: Well, for instance, he had rental houses that he was always fixing and keeping up. I would go with him and learn some of the trade; watching him fix windows, replace the water heater … those type of maintenance things. I think it was through those experiences I learned the value of communications and relationships and how that led to success. Those were skills that were very valuable when you were interviewing potential tenants or collecting rent.

So, outside of his regular job, Dad also dabbled in real estate.

But that’s not all. He was also working mechanically, and we always had a different car. He could fix just about anything. He would save just about everything because he knew he could find another use for it. That was the way that generation did things; when they needed a part or something, they would make it. They didn’t just go to Home Depot.

AR: He had a strong entrepreneurial spirit.

Kapusta: Yes, but he also realized that he had a responsibility to take care of his family. That is where the day-job came in with the fixed salary and benefits. He did the other work on nights and weekends. He had a very strong work ethic, and a lot of people think that is where I got it from. Dad was driven and had a great vision.

I cannot remember all of the details, but when I was very young — maybe in kindergarten — Dad bought an old beat-up snowmobile. Mom tells the story of how he brought it home to tear it apart, fix and paint it so we could use it some and eventually sell it. I sat out in the garage and watched him tear every piece down, watched him sandpaper and wire-brush it and paint it. 
 
And when he was putting it back together, Mom tells the story that I gave him every single part in the right order he needed to put it back. Even at that age, I knew which part went where.

It was an interesting upbringing, and I think being mechanically inclined was a natural talent.

AR: Apparently, you like mechanical things.

Kapusta: Definitely. It grew into a fascination with putting things together, fixing things. I think, in an abstract way, I would have a vision of “this is where it is now; this is what it will be like in the end, and this is how I am going to make it happen.” That feeling of accomplishment just sucks you in.

AR: Did your dad pressure you into things like this?

Kapusta: No, he never forced me. I wanted to be there. At early ages I would push to do things that were probably out of the ordinary for a kid my age. I learned from Dad that you could do things on your own and make some money. I understood that at a very, very young age.

For example, fast forward to about age 6 — now I have no idea how I got this idea — but I realized that you could collect old newspapers and cardboard and turn them in and make money. 
 
This was before people started recycling. I had my little red wagon and I would go down the street collecting old newspapers. I remember that back then it was $2 for a hundred pounds of newspapers and you measure a hundred pounds by having five old fashioned paper grocery bags filled with newspapers. Dad had a pickup truck, and he would help me trade the old newspapers in and get cash.

AR: How did this make you feel?

Kapusta: It was a big thing. As a 6-year-old, a few dollars was a lot of money. And I was proud of the fact that I had earned that money.

I did that for a while, and then I took on a newspaper route … delivering newspapers that I would later pick up for recycling. I had both ends of the process covered! It was the circle of life for me! (laughter)

AR: You’ve talked a lot about your dad. Tell us about your mom.

Kapusta: Mom was the typical stay-at-home mom that was so common back then. Mom was a cosmetologist by training and worked some before the children came. Although she occasionally did some work in the basement after the children came, she pretty much had her hands full running the household.

Of course we got our haircuts free … I don’t have to worry about that now! (laughter) It may have been a little old-fashioned, but each of my parents appreciated what the other did. And they both did it really, really well. It was a great partnership, but unfortunately, my dad died in a very serious car accident in 1997. It took all of us a long time to get over that.

AR: Did you do a lot of family vacations?

Kapusta: Neither of my parents would ever get on a plane, so everywhere they went they either walked or drove. Consequently, we stayed pretty close to home. Our vacations involved a lot of camping or renting a cottage in Michigan.

But I do remember when I was about high school age, Dad bought a used RV from the auction — that was when a non-dealer could go to an auction for a limited number of purchases. We took that on a trip to Disney World. That was an exciting time; Mom had saved and saved so we could go to Disney World. It was an amazing trip in that motor home Dad had bought, and we had a great time. It created a lot of memories.

Of course, after we had taken the trip, Dad fixed up the RV and sold it!

AR: You said your dad went to auctions. Was he a dealer?

Kapusta: No, but the auction would let the general public buy a limited number of vehicles and he bought mostly for us. We would fix it up and later sell it before buying another one.

That is probably where I discovered my love for mechanical things; buying vehicles, fixing them and then selling them. In fact, I paid my way through college by buying salvage vehicles, stolen recovered vehicles, and putting them back together. 
 
As I worked with my dad in the summer remodeling houses, I would also be working in the evenings and on weekends on the cars we had purchased. Sometimes we would have two, whereby we would take parts from one and replace the bad parts from the other one to get a good car.

AR: You have worked almost your entire life!

Kapusta: Thats right. From the time I was about 6.

AR: What did you do when you finished college?

Kapusta: When I first finished school, Dad had a project underway that was not yet complete. He asked if I could help him for a couple of months before starting my job search. So I did that and then I started the job search and began sending out my resume.

I remember I did over 100 resumes, cover letters, stamps and envelopes! I said, “One of these please find me a job!”

AR: So what happened?

Kapusta: Well, the market was slow in ’88, but that did not bother me. I just needed to get into the door somewhere, and I knew I could prove myself. I wasn’t worried about where or how much.

Now, I sent out all of these resumes and I only received a handful of replies. I had an interview with an insurance company, and then the next day I received a call from GMAC. Before I had the GMAC interview, I had a job offer from the insurance company, but I much preferred the car industry. I was able to put off the insurance job offer long enough for me to have the GMAC interview.

A couple of days later I received a call saying that I had the job. Now, after what seems like a blink of the eye, I just recently celebrated my 25th year!

AR: What were some of your first duties?

Kapusta: It was more of a staff job at the executive office, and not a field job. It was called the college-graduate-in-training program and lasted about two years, whereby they moved you around throughout the company to give you a lot of exposure. I went from the controller’s side to financial planning, where I did a lot of things around pricing and forecasting.

I later went to New York for a couple of years working at our regional office and then moved back here in ’99. I was then put into a group that was called SmartLease and SmartBuy, which worked closely with General Motors.

AR: Was that when the GM online auction business started?

Kapusta: That started a little later. In 2000, Bill McIver and others launched the Internet venture. My job was working with Bill and his team on the remarketing side for all of these cars coming back off lease. Now, I was not a part of Bill’s team then. But my job closely interacted with him. They were pioneers on a new frontier and did a great job.

I began to work more closely with Bill in 2004 in the remarketing process. He almost literally tapped me on the shoulder and asked me to work with him. I learned a lot from Mr. Bill McIver; he’s been a great mentor, as well as Jim Clark. They all taught me a lot.

I liked the auction business because it brought me back to my roots.

AR: What is your philosophy toward work?

Kapusta: Customer satisfaction. By far. I go to bed at night and get up in the morning thinking about satisfying our customers,

We have a very unique platform that provides efficiency and value to dealers, and that gets me excited. Our job is to execute that as close to flawlessly as possible. That is what drives me every day. Even now, I keep a pad next to my bed at night in case I wake up and have this terrific thought, because I know if I go back to sleep, I will never remember it.

Of course, the cornerstone is that we have to have trust. That is true in a physical auction but even more so in an Internet auction. Bill McIver and his team did a great job of establishing that in the early days.

AR: Let’s jump to another subject. The industry had a lot of bankruptcies; GMAC had a bailout. How did that affect you?

Kapusta: When you looked out over the industry (at that time) there were a lot of reasons for many of us to be concerned. This was uncharted territory. I had grown up with the Big 3 and thinking that they were invincible. I think from my perspective I knew we had a good thing going with the SmartAuction platform, so I just focused on how we kept that growing.

We knew that if we continued to do a good job, continued to improve, we would be fine.

AR: You’ve seen a lot of changes. What do you see for the future?

Kapusta: I think the Internet is here to stay and will continue to play a growing role in a consignor’s remarketing models. But the physical auctions are not going anywhere and will continue to play a significant role. There are many things physical auctions can provide to dealers that Internet auctions cannot. There will be growing teamwork between the physical and Internet auctions.

If you look at the entire wholesale marketplace, the physical and Internet auctions handle about half the vehicles that change hands each year. How we provide services to that other half is what I think is the opportunity for all of us in the auction industry.

AR: Tell us what you like to do if you are not working.

Kapusta: Well, I work a lot … but I love it. When I am not working, I have four absolutely wonderful children that range in age from 11 to 17. They get along great together, and we spend time at a place we have in Northern Michigan.

We are on a lake and love water sports, tubing and waterskiing. We are outdoors people and love our ATVs, boating and, in the winter, snowmobiles. I love spending time with my family.

AR: One final question; is it still fun to come to work?

Kapusta: I love it. I learn something new each day, and it keeps me excited and fueled for whatever is coming next.

Steve Kapusta is the director of remarketing at Ally Financial.