Rick Gauthier
With just under a month to go before the 2015 CADA Summit kicks off, the planning team is hard at work to finalize the lineup and other logistics.
“We are extremely pleased with the ramp up to the event to date. Registrations are ahead of last year at the same date, so we are heading for another sell-out,” says Patrice Maltais, Industry Relations Officer for the Canadian Automobile Dealers Association, and coordinator for the Summit.
“We are at the fine tuning stage at this point, and are about to close with the host hotel on our preferential rate offer,” he says, adding registrants would be wise to do so before Monday.
This year’s CADA Summit, taking place on Feb.11, 2015, at the Hyatt Regency Toronto, will gather members of the auto industry to ponder issues affecting them, including from a connectivity standpoint, all in one jam-packed day.
Speakers from across North America will take part including Google Automotive Lead Joe Maciariello, Ken Greenberg, world-renowned urbanist and former Director of Urban Design and Architecture for the City of Toronto, industry researcher Richard Wallace and Mike Jackson, CEO of Auto Nation, the largest auto retailer in the U.S.
Last week, Richard Gauthier, President and CEO of the Canadian Automobile Dealers Association, along with key members of the planning team, met with the OEM panelists at Canadian auto dealer offices in Markham to map out their much anticipated discussions and issues they plan to bring up at the Summit.
While Gauthier acknowledges there has been extensive background work and planning behind the CADA Summit in the past, he has even higher expectations for the event this year. Part of that has to do with the event’s important and game-changing subject matter.
“Technology and connectivity is fast becoming the heart and soul of our industry but most players still don’t have a full grasp of its relevancy and how these will impact the way we do business and interact with our customers,” says Gauthier.
He adds: “As far as I’m personally concerned, I can’t wait for this year’s event because it will deal with everything that interests me about our future.”
For the third year, TD Auto Finance is the exclusive sponsor of the CADA Summit.
Visit: www.cadasummit.ca for full details and to register.
