SAN FRANCISCO -

Along with the announcement of the 2011 Time Dealer of the Year, this past weekend’s National Automobile Dealers Association Convention included a wide-ranging pledge by new chairman Stephen Wade.

The multi-franchise dealer from St. George, Utah, told 18,000 total attendees he plans to work with manufacturers, regulators and Congress to ensure that the nation’s economic recovery continues as vehicle sales rebound this year.

“It finally feels like we’re headed in the right direction,” Wade asserted. “Manufacturers are producing great product. Sales are picking up. And consumer credit is improving.”

As the association’s vice chairman in 2010, Wade had a front-row seat for the many legislative and regulatory battles that NADA and its grass-roots network waged on behalf of dealers.

Association leaders believe these successes — including NADA’s fight to keep dealer-assisted financing affordable and available for consumers — have positioned dealers to thrive this year.

Wade thinks sales will continue to pick up as consumers who have put off new-vehicle purchases head back to dealerships.

Even though NADA declared that it succeeded last year in protecting dealer-assisted financing from what it called “the new burdensome and unnecessary rules” of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Wade thinks vehicle loans remain under attack.

“Going forward, we’ll work with Congress and the regulators to structure the bureau’s rules in a way that works in the real world and in a way that works for our customers,” Wade declared to NADA members.

“When we are persistent … all pulling together on the legislative front, marshalling our grassroots efforts around the nation with one common goal, we can achieve the impossible,” he continued. “We need to push legislation that helps boost the economy, encourages auto sales and creates jobs.”

The new association chairman concedes dealers still face a flurry of new challenges this year. An example Wade shared is facing the possibility of a new program to raise the fleet-average fuel economy standard to as high as 62 mpg by 2025, a plan he called “a stretch.”

As dealers come back from one of the industry’s toughest periods, Wade said, “We need fewer pressures on profitability, not more.”

Wade took the helm of NADA from 2010 chairman Ed Tonkin, who shared some anecdotes about his time in the top association position.

“Looking back with everything that’s happened the last few years, we asked ourselves, ‘Is there a light at the end of the tunnel?’ We knew there was, we just didn’t know how long the tunnel would be,” Tonkin recollected.

“And with all that’s been going on some people ask me, ‘Ed, why did you do this job?’ You might think that my timing wasn’t very good,” he continued. “I can’t tell you without a doubt, the best part of this job was traveling around the country meeting dealers who were engaged, big and small, urban and rural, even internationally.

And finally, it dawned on me. I know what that light at the end of the tunnel is,” Tonkin surmised.

“It isn’t a bigger market. It isn’t new models. And it isn’t a recovery economy. That light at the end of the tunnel is you. It’s the dealers of this country. It is the thousands of dealers and their employees working through thick and thin to do what we do best, taking care of our customers,” he went on to say.

Florida Dealer Receives Time Honor

Thomas Castriota, of Castriota Chevrolet in Hudson, Fla., was named the 2011 Time Dealer of the Year, an honor sponsored by the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co.

The Time Dealer of the Year Award is one of the automobile industry’s most prestigious and highly coveted awards for new-vehicle dealers. Officials stated recipients are among the nation’s most successful dealers, but they must also demonstrate a long-standing commitment to effective community service.

NADA recapped that Castriota, 57, was chosen to represent the Tampa New Auto Dealers Association in the national competition and was one of only 52 nominated dealers from 17,000 that operate nationwide.

A panel of faculty members from the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan selected one finalist from each of the four NADA regions and one national Dealer of the Year.

The other three finalists were:

—Rick Jensen, president of Jensen Motors in New Ulm, Minn.

—Buzz Rodland, president and general manager of Rodland Toyota-Scion in Everett, Wash.

—Charles “Chip” Miller, president of Miller Ford Lincoln Subaru in Mount Holly, N.J.

Presenting the finalists during the NADA Convention were Kim Kelleher, publisher of Time, and Johann Finkelmeier, Goodyear’s vice president and general manager for original equipment.

“In 1993, my wife, Anita, and I came to Pasco County, Fla., to a community where we had no ties or bonds,” Castriota said after receiving the award.

“We left Pittsburgh and the security of family and stable careers, but we knew that with hard work we could make the dealership successful and this area our home,” he continued.

Officials recounted that Castriota graduated from Pittsburgh’s Upper St. Clair High in 1971 and from Duquesne University in 1975, where he majored in political science and history.

In December 1975, Castriota was commissioned a second lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps, with whom he spent 26 years on active and reserve duty.

After retiring as a lieutenant colonel in 2001, officials said Castriota was recalled to active duty at age 53 in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom from 2006 to 2007. In Iraq, Castriota was assigned to the Prime Minister of Iraq’s Operation Center and to the Iraqi training command: Multi National Security Transition Command-Iraq (MNSTC-I).

“During that time, I saw the makings of a new democracy: Iraq,” Castriota shared.

“Today, I believe my contributions — to our country and Iraq — will bring about a more secure world and new hope to the Iraqi people,” he added.

For his service officials indicated Castriota was awarded the Defense Meritorious Service Medal.

In the area of community service, award orchestrators insist Castriota has a long and distinguished record of giving.

As member, board member, past president and/or committee chair, they mentioned Castriota has served or continues serve many charitable and not-for-profit organizations:

—West Pasco Chamber of Commerce

—Berkeley Preparatory School

—American Legion

—Marine Corps League

—Bayonet Regional Medical Center

—United Way of Pasco

—Lighthouse for the Visually Impaired and Blind

—Port Richey Rotary

—Trinity Rotary Club

Along with the Time Dealer honor, officials mentioned Castriota also is two-time recipient of Rotary International’s Paul Harris Fellow Award, given “in appreciation of tangible and significant assistance given for the furtherance of better understanding and friendly relations among peoples of the world.”

Time added much of Castriota’s service has targeted education such as his work with the Pasco Schools Education Foundation, Saint Leo University’s government bond board, the University of South Florida’s Stavros School of Education and the dealership staff’s support of Pasco and Hernando County Schools via the Administrators in the Work Place Program; and training and guidance for the Marchman Technical Education Center.

Furthermore, officials pointed out the West Pasco Chamber of Commerce named Castriota its Business of the Year in 2000 and the Florida Secretary of Education awarded him the State of Florida’s Education Business of the Year award for his commitment to education.

“It’s very humbling when you’re honored by your peers,” Castriota admitted.

“I have never used my community efforts as a way to promote business. I have always felt that as a business owner, you have to give back to your community and your country,” he added.

Tanker Snyder, executive manager of the Tampa New Auto Dealers Association, nominated Castriota for the Time Dealer of the Year Award.