The nomination of William Weiss, Jr., owner of Crest Auto World, a Chevrolet, Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram dealer in North Conway, New Hampshire, for the 2013 TIME Dealer of the Year award has been announced by TIME.
Weiss, Jr., is one of a select group of 57 dealer nominees from across the country who will be honored at the 96th annual National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) Convention & Exposition in Orlando, Florida, on February 9, 2013. The announcement of this year’s nominees was made by Todd Larsen, executive vice president and group president, Time Inc. News and Sports, and Tim Russi, executive vice president, North American Auto Operations, for Ally Financial.
“Auto dealers play such an important role in the strength of local communities across the United States,” said Russi. “They are involved in many philanthropic endeavors, contributing their time and money to improving the lives of people in need. Ally is proud to support and honor these extraordinary dealers and the important roles they play in making their communities better places to live and work,” added Russi.
In its second year as exclusive sponsor, Ally will recognize dealer nominees and their community efforts by contributing $1,000 to each nominee’s charity of choice. Nominees will also be recognized on the recently launched website, AllyDealerHeroes.com, which highlights the philanthropic contributions and achievements of auto dealers across the U.S.
The TIME Dealer of the Year award is one of the automobile industry’s most prestigious and highly coveted honors. Recipients are among the nation’s most successful auto dealers who also demonstrate a long-standing commitment to community service. Weiss, Jr., 68, was chosen to represent the New Hampshire Automobile Dealers Association (NHADA) in the national competition – one of only 57 auto dealers from 17,000 nationwide – nominated for the 44th annual award. The award is sponsored by TIME in association with Ally Financial, and in cooperation with NADA. A panel of faculty members from the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan will select one finalist from each of the four NADA regions and one national Dealer of the Year.
“My most important achievement has been to provide employment to the people who have worked for us,” nominee Weiss, Jr., said. “Being able to do this since 1976 through the turmoil of the economy and the changes in the automotive model that we face day to day has been the most rewarding aspect of what we do.”
A 1962 graduate of Brooks School in North Andover, Massachusetts, Weiss, Jr., earned a BA in psychology from the University of Vermont in Burlington in 1966. He worked as a programmer for ADP and field consultant for Alexander Proudfoot before embarking on his automotive career with his brother, Robert.
“We loved cars,” he said as the reason for pursuing an opportunity to head Woodworth Motors in Andover, Massachusetts, which was owned by a family friend who had passed away. Due to the brothers’ unsuccessful attempts to purchase the dealership, they found a promising Chevrolet-Saab store in North Conway, New Hampshire, which they purchased in 1976. “This dealership was much smaller that the ones where we had previously worked and, as a result, we performed multiple tasks from parts manager to sales manager to swap manager,” Weiss, Jr., said. Today Crest Auto World has expanded, selling cars, trucks and truck equipment. “We are focusing on the Internet as our next significant project and feel that that will be our next success,” he added.
Weiss, Jr., is proud to have his son, Chris, who graduated summa cum laude from the University of New Hampshire’s business school, join the family enterprise. “To see how committed he is to the continued success of the business is extremely rewarding,” he said. ”His understanding of the future of this business model will create for him success down the road.”
A past member of the state automobile association’s board of directors, Weiss, Jr., is committed to his work as a trustee of the NHADA Workers’ Compensation Board. He explained, “This organization is held in high regard by the state of New Hampshire and is a benchmark that other workers compensation trusts emulate.”
In the area of community service, Weiss, Jr., supports local organizations through monetary donations and has supplied cars and trucks for hole-in-one prizes at charity events. The dealership also supplies space for Red Cross blood drives. “We feel that it is important to provide these services to the community as part of our continued commitment to the people of North Conway,” he said.
Weiss, Jr., was nominated for the TIME Dealer of the Year Award by Peter McNamara, president of the New Hampshire Automobile Dealers Association. He has two sons.
TIME is a global multimedia brand that reaches more than 50 million people and includes the domestic and international magazine editions, tablet versions for iPad, Galaxy, Kindle and Nook, TIME for Kids, TIME.com and mobile. TIME.com draws nearly 10 million unique visitors a month and has more than 3.9 million Twitter followers and one million Google+ followers. TIME leads the mobile app space with more than 4.5 million total app downloads across all platforms, including iPhone, BlackBerry and Android.
Ally Financial Inc. is a leading automotive financial services company powered by a top direct banking franchise. Ally’s automotive services business offers a full suite of financing products and services, including new and used vehicle inventory and consumer financing, leasing, inventory insurance, commercial loans and vehicle remarketing services. Ally Bank, the company’s direct banking subsidiary and member FDIC, offers an array of deposit products, including certificates of deposit, savings accounts, money market accounts, IRA deposit products and interest checking. Ally’s Commercial Finance unit provides financing to middle-market companies across a broad range of industries. With approximately $179 billion in assets as of June 30, 2012, Ally operates as a bank holding company. For more information, visit the Ally media site at http://media.ally.com or follow Ally on Twitter: @Ally.
