DETROIT -

In the next group of nominee profiles related to the TIME Dealer of the Year Award, these store executives all knew in college they wanted to get into the car business.

A pair even went through law school first before venturing into the dealer world.

The awards program, which is produced in cooperation with the National Automobile Dealers Association and sponsored by Ally Financial, aims to recognize the nation’s most successful auto dealers who also demonstrate a long-standing commitment to community service.

Auto Remarketing plans to publish these nominee profiles between now and when the winner is announced during the NADA Convention and Expo that runs Feb. 3 to 6 in Las Vegas.

Marc Heitz, president and CEO, Marc Heitz Chevrolet, Norman, Okla.

According to Heitz, “The best philosophy for success is to treat customers with courtesy and respect — going the extra mile to provide the highest levels of service and satisfaction possible.”

A graduate of the University of Oklahoma, where he earned a degree in business administration and obtained his pilot’s license, Heitz began his automotive career selling cars while working his way through college. He was employed by several dealerships and partnered in an Oldsmobile-Cadillac-Nissan store before establishing Marc Heitz Chevrolet in 2000.

Heitz has deep roots in the Norman area. His grandparents owned the Heitz dairy farm in northeast Norman and his father managed a west side grocery store for 30 years. His family taught him that the people in his community are a businessman’s most valuable assets. That’s why his dealership is a gathering place for the people of Norman, featuring a playground, a dog park and an amphitheater where free events are hosted. There’s also a 4,500 gallon aquarium in the showroom with a waterfall that includes two demonstration stations for fishing.

Heitz’s commitment to community service extends far beyond the doors of his dealership. He supports the regional Food Bank of Oklahoma, American Red Cross, the United Way, as well as a host of children’s charities, including Ally’s House (provides financial support to children with cancer and their families), Peppers Ranch (helps foster children), Baby Steps (childcare and counseling for teen mothers), Center for Children & Families and the area children’s hospital.

At the dealership, Heitz hosts a variety of free events, including the Battle of the Burger, which benefits Kid’s Corral and the Toby Keith Foundation, a food drive for the Food Bank and a Corvette show that support the Toys for Tots program. He added, “We don’t have a single, monumental civic achievement. Rather, we choose to give back to the community that has afforded us so much in as many ways as we possibly can.”

Fritz Hitchcock, president, Puente Hills Toyota/Scion, Industry, Calif.

After attending the University of Iowa, Hitchcock began his automotive career as a management trainee and eventually district manager for the Dodge Division of Chrysler (1961–1967). Working with dealers gave him a keen insight into being an entrepreneur and running a family business. These early insights served him well as he began his own journey as a dealer/owner in California.

Today Hitchcock serves as the second vice chairman of the prestigious State of California Chamber of Commerce and is slated to become its president in 2013. He has focused on customer service, training and providing a superior customer experience at the dealership. When customers walk in they are greeted with a beautiful, two-story waterfall, America’s largest video projection wall with an 18-foot diagonal screen, a Subway Restaurant, and an impressive children’s play area. Customers feel right away that they’re the center of attention in a very special place.

Among his many other professional recognitions, he was appointed to the National Highway Safety Advisory Board by late U.S. President Ronald Reagan and was asked to serve on the Los Angeles Regional Selection Committee for the White house Fellows Program (1989–1991) by President George H.W. Bush.

The list of Hitchcock’s accomplishments is a long and distinguished. A lifetime member of the Automotive Hall of Fame, Hitchcock also supports the American Heart Association, Los Angeles County Sherriff’s Youth Foundation, the Mt. San Antonio Community College Foundation and the YWCA-WINGS Shelters for Battered Women, among others.

Tom Holcombe, president, Little Apple Toyota-Honda, Manhattan, Kan.

A graduate of the University of Arkansas School of Law, Holcombe had become a successful attorney in Texarkana, Texas before he first considered an automotive career. He had served as campaign manager for Arkansas Attorney General Steve Clark and U.S. Senator David Pryor, as well as a thriving practice in a growing law firm.

But one day, a long time automotive client proposed that he partner with him in a dealership and move over to the automobile business. Holcombe said yes, packed up his books, rolled up his sleeves and went to work on the service drive to begin learning the business. From there he worked in every department of the dealership before becoming the store’s general manager. Education complete, he began looking at acquisitions.

Holcombe’s philosophy is to hire the best associates, furnish them with the best training and encourage them on a daily basis to become friends with their customers. Because as Tom puts it, the automobile business is “all about taking care of people.” “The success of Little Apple Toyota-Honda is the result of its wonderful associates.  We have been fortunate to have many long-term associates who have been with the dealership since its inception in 1996.” Holcombe insisted.

Dealers must cope with many challenges along the way, but in 2008 fate dealt quite a blow to the Little Apple store when it was completely destroyed by an F4 tornado. The response to rebuilding their business and helping the community rebuild has won the praise and loyalty of their neighbors. In 2010 Little Apple Toyota Honda won the Reader’s Choice Award as the No. 1 automobile dealer in Manhattan, Kan., by the Manhattan Mercury.

Giving back to the community is a pillar of the business for Holcombe. He is a long-time board member of Mercy Regional Hospital, where he currently serves as treasurer. He supports many local organizations including the Boys & Girls Club of Manhattan, the Rotary Foundation, Manhattan Arts Center and the Kansas State University Foundation.

Holcombe supports a long list of deserving local charities, but perhaps his most rewarding is The Annual Little Apple Teacher Appreciation Day program, which awards the Riley County District Teacher of the Year with a new car.

Donna Gaudet Hosmer, dealer principal, AutoServ Volkswagen, Tilton, N.H.

“I strive every day to contribute in my community,” Hosmer declared. “I want my employees and my children to see that you can run a business, raise a family and still make time to be engaged and of service in your community, because being of service is the true richness in life.”

A graduate of Merrimack College in North Andover, Mass., with a degee in political science and economics, Hosmer earned a law degree, cum laude, at Suffolk University Law School in Boston in 1991, where she was associate editor of the Suffolk Transnational Law Review and received the American Jurisprudence Award. After working as an attorney with Cleveland, Waters & Bass in Concord, N.H., Hosmer joined AutoServ of Tilton, her family’s growing Ford, Chrysler and Dodge dealership fulltime in 1996 though she’s worked at the AutoServ headquarters since it was founded in 1990. AutoServ Dealerships grew to acquire Jeep, Nissan, Kia and Volkswagen. Hosmer oversees the AutoServ Volkswagen dealership in Tilton.

“New Hampshire is a small state and as such the words and opinions of our customers resonate,” Hosmer highlighted. “Our reputation is everything — and the key to our rapid growth. We are a family-run dealership and treat our customers like family. We want them coming back to us for generations. We can only continue to grow and earn that loyalty by providing the very best possible sales and service experience.”

That relationship-building philosophy is evident in Hosmer’s community service record. She oversees the Governors Island Children’s Summer Camp Program, a children’s summer camp for seasonal residents which also fundraises to support local charities including the Spaulding Youth Center (a residential facility in Northfield for children with autism), the Girls & Boys Club of the Lakes Region, and the New Hampshire Humane Society. Hosmer is a member of the Tilton-Northfield Rotary Club, for which she helps coordinate an annual golf tournament that raises money for vocational scholarships, the Laconia Airport Authority and U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen’s Small Business Advisory Council.

“I cannot speak to a single act of service as most meaningful because my participation in civic and charitable endeavors, fundraising on behalf of worthy causes and the opportunity to be of service to others is a constant way of life for me,” Hosmer added. She currently supports a wide range of organizations, including Easter Seals, DARE, food pantries, United Way, American Red Cross and Make-A-Wish Foundation, to name a few.

Tim Ilderton, general manager/dealer, Ilderton Dodge Chrysler Jeep Ram, High Point, N.C.

Upon graduating from East Carolina University in Greenville, N.C., Ilderton began his automotive career as a service adviser in 1973 at the family dealership founded by his grandfather in 1926. Ilderton’s dad ran the store back then and still comes to work each today at age 91. As Ilderton advanced through the ranks, he expanded the business and developed specialized markets in handicap van conversions and full line fleets sales.

“When I assumed the dealer principal chair in late 2004, I decided to expand our handicap conversion division and opened two additional stores, one in Charlotte and one in Charleston,” Ilderton explained.  He also expanded the fleet and leasing department and added a business link department to increase the dealership’s commercial presence, assuming the GEM (Global Electric Motor Vehicles) franchise. This diversification strategy has made Ilderton a major supplier of fleet vehicles to North Carolina, as well as state and local government entities throughout the Southeast.

Ilderton’s commitment to provide affordable and reliable transportation for the physically handicapped earned him the North Carolina Public Transportation Authority’s National Independent Living Award. “It was a great honor and was very special to me,” Ilderton acknowledged.  “I have devoted much of my career to the handicap mobility division of our company. The ability to help a disabled veteran or a young person whole life is shattered by an accident — or any of our wonderful clients — is most rewarding.”

One of the oldest businesses in High Point, Ilderton is a major booster of a long list of local charities. Ilderton is past member of Furniture Land Rotary Club and Friends of Scouting. He is also the 2011 United Way PaceSetter chairman and has been asked to lead the 2012 United Way drive.

More nominee profiles can be found at allybizhero.com.