Celebrating excellence in ambassadorship, business innovation and retail operations
Each year since 2005, three car dealers who have risen to the top of their careers have been named CADA Laureates.
From among the 3,400 car dealers across Canada, these individuals were nominated by their peers, made it through extensive vetting to be named a finalist, and then ultimately selected as the winning candidates from judges from the Ivey Business School at Western University.
They did so in three distinct categories: Ambassadorship, Business Innovation and Retail Operations.
In this feature, you can hear directly from the winning CADA Laureates in an exclusive interview, read comments from the judges about why they won, and hear comments about each of the winners from the CADA Laureate program exclusive sponsor iA Dealer Services.
Enjoy!
AMBASSADORSHIP
For extraordinary service to the community and industry
PETER HEPPNER
Preston Chevrolet, Buick, GMC Cadillac Ltd., Langley, BC
Brands represented: Chevrolet Buick, GMC, & Cadillac
Years in business: 43
Number of employees: 100
In their own words
People say winning the CADA Laureate award is surreal – and it is. As you go about your business and your career, you don’t do things for the accolades. You’re trying to advance your business and give back to your community. The award submission process forces you to pause and reflect on what you’ve done and why you did it. In hindsight, I do have a great deal of pride in what we’ve accomplished with the help and support of great teams of employees, the support of General Motors, fellow dealers and our community partners. We bought this dealership from the estate of George Preston — a larger-than-life figure in the area with a long-standing reputation of extraordinary community work. We kept the Preston name. The question was, how do we follow in those footsteps? We had a limited budget for charitable efforts. We would, however, have a large marketing and advertising budget to promote and grow the business. So, if we could pursue endeavors that got our message out to the community, but also did something good while doing so, it would be a win-win. We devoted a great deal of time and effort to developing meaningful engagement with various groups and organizations within the community. We call them community partnerships. When it’s a partnership everyone feels good about it. I don’t care where you go in this country, if there’s something good happening, chances are there is a new car dealer somehow involved. We have always been proud of this fact and let it be our guiding principle when making our advertising and marketing decisions. It’s the same reason for my service to industry. Our committees and associations accomplish important work on behalf of us all.
Judge’s comments
Each year, it is an honour and an inspiration to review the exceptional Laureate nominations in the Ambassador category. All five of these leaders embody a strong commitment to serving their communities, to helping others, and to demonstrating the importance of social and environmental responsibilities. Each of the five finalists truly are community ambassadors. Of the final five CADA Laureate nominees, the performance of Peter Heppner of Langley, British Columbia across each of the Ambassador criteria is absolutely exceptional, and makes him very deserving of the 2024 Ambassadorship Laureate honour. Peter’s devotion to his community is amazing. Peter has approached philanthropy using the approach of helping as many organizations, committees, and causes as possible, and doing so at all levels. Peter endeavors to help “one and all.” To share some examples, Peter frequently partners with the City of Langley and Township of Langley for large-scale community events (e.g., Special Olympics, Junior and Senior championships and games), and supports local organizations across a wide range of interests (from the BC Corvette Club and other classic car organizations to the South Asian publication of Darpan Magazine, to the Langley Memorial Hospital Foundation). Specific to the automotive industry, Peter has devoted considerable time to serve on numerous boards and committees, and has been recognized with multiple national and regional service awards. In sum, Peter is an exceptional ambassador to the community and is a very deserving recipient of the Ambassador Laureate honour.
Sponsor comments
If there is an event, team or cause in Langley in need of assistance, odds are excellent that Peter Heppner and the staff at Preston Chevrolet are involved and helping out. The list of causes they have supported is far too long to mention, but Peter is well known by community groups, business leaders, and local politicians for going above and beyond in support of the community and its people. With respect to industry affairs, Peter has played every conceivable role in industry and manufacturer relations, both provincially and nationally. His leadership skills and business acumen were really called upon when he chaired the New Car Dealers Association of BC, and then CADA, during the time of the COVID-19 pandemic. — Alnoor Jiwani, Senior Vice-President, iA Dealer Services
BUSINESS INNOVATION
For initiatives that significantly enhance performance and broaden the business scope for dealers
ALEXANDRE SAILLANT
Groupe Saillant, Québec, QC
Brands represented: Mazda, Toyota, Subaru, Hyundai, Volvo, Polestar
Years in business: 25
Number of employees: 400
In their own words
When I got the call, I was really honoured to receive this recognition. I think it’s one of the highest accomplishments a dealer can have in their career. For me, it’s not just a personal accomplishment, it’s a result of all the hard work our team did. You can be as innovative as you want, but if you don’t have the team behind you to put all those new innovations in place, it won’t work. We always try to be ahead of the curve, ahead of the competition. All our employees know we really strive for innovation. It is demanding on them because we don’t tolerate just being okay. We want to be the best at what we do. So when this award came, to me it was basically a way to honour our work, our achievements, and also being valued by our peers in the industry. I’m very humbled and proud to accept it. It shows the excellence and the vision we have in our group, and only will encourage us to keep working even more this way. It just shows us we’ve been doing the right things. AI is another realm that’s opening up and we are working on. It’s a leap of faith, and unknown — but that’s called innovation.
Judge’s comments
Given the considerable change thrust upon the auto industry during the last five to ten years, the development and integration of customer data and insights into dealership practice has become vital to developing a successful business. Each of the five Laureate finalists in the Business Innovation category have done an incredible job of not only keeping up with trends, but innovating to differentiate and meet the ever-evolving needs and demands of customers. Of the five nominees, Alexandre Saillant of Group Saillant in Ste-Foy, Quebec is most deserving of the 2024 Laureate honour. Alexandre’s CRM development and strategic use of data both internally for management and staff and externally for consumers has led to phenomenal profitability growth over the last five years. Specifically, Groupe Saillant developed its own CRM system. Alexandre made this strategic choice because the data he desired was simply not available through current products on the market. The integration of this CRM system has resulted in a new vehicle sales increase of 63 per cent over five years, as well as increased local market share. On the used vehicle side, Alexandre developed his own pricing management tool that outperformed what was available on the market, which resulted in faster inventory turn and exceptional growth in sales. Both of these innovations — among others — make Alexandre Saillant a worthy selection of the 2024 Business Innovation CADA Laureate.
Sponsor comments
For Alexandre, innovation starts with people. They celebrate achievements across the group, which helps spread the Groupe Saillant culture. They use the same processes, technologies, tools, and metrics for each of their franchises, making it easier to move staff between stores. They don’t just rely on the latest technologies; they build their own software to fit their processes and provide the metrics they want. All tools are designed to increase productivity and efficiency, improve performance, or reduce cost — and they touch every area of the business. It’s quite extraordinary. Alexandre’s relentless focus on innovation has led to impressive growth in new and used vehicle sales, F&I, parts and service, and dealership profitability over the past five years. — Gwen Gareau, Senior Vice-President, iA Dealer Services
RETAIL OPERATIONS
For outstanding achievement within an individual dealership
DEAN COOLEY
Dean Cooley Motors, Dauphin, MB
Brands represented: Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, Ford
Years in business: 28
Number of employees: 81
In their own words
It’s truly an honour. Many of us have been around the industry for a very, very long time, and to be recognized in this way is quite humbling. We are a medium-sized dealership in a small market, and our team is absolutely the reason for our success. We have a great bunch of guys and gals that put in an awesome effort every day, and they’re very committed to the industry, and committed to keeping our customers’ wheels on the road and keeping them happy. The ingredients to our success are in the details. We have processes in place that allow things to flow quite smoothly. Different people have said “slow down to speed up.” My service manager has a different terminology: He says “smooth is fast.” What he means by that is the processes that you put in place that are followed on a daily basis allow you to move in an agile way, which keeps you efficient. And the efficiencies matter. We share our forecasts and goals and aspirations with the team. Dauphin, Manitoba is an awesome community, but it’s not a large community. We need to deal with the same consumers over and over again with their children and their grandchildren. So for us to be successful, we need to be focused on that customer experience, and give them a good reason to come back and see us.
Judge’s comments
It goes without saying that each of the five Retail Operations Laureate nominees have built and maintained world-class profitable organizations that can be viewed as the gold standard in operations. Each of the nominees are exemplars of leadership and are well deserving of being Laureates. Of the five worthy finalists, Dean Cooley of Dean Cooley Motors in Dauphin, Manitoba is most deserving of the 2024 Laureate honour. The profitability, and specifically the consistent growth in profitability that Dean has generated year over year is absolutely remarkable, and is a testament to the commitment to the internal measurement and communication structures, and customer service practices, that he has put in place. Moreover, Dean’s attention to cost-control, strategic investment in marketing, and development of customer care positions have resulted in very impressive profitability metrics and consistent high level of new and repeat new vehicle sales. Crucially, Dean recognizes the opportunity (and privilege) of serving customers in small communities. Indeed, although located in a small centre, Dean has built his business by servicing a very large geographic area by taking the approach that you are not only dealing with a single person a single point in time, but have the honour of serving a family for generations. This approach is reinforced through his internal staffing and retention strategies that have yielded over twenty employees with over twenty years of service at his dealership — a remarkable achievement.
Sponsor comments
Although each department in the dealership is very successful, Dean and his management team continue to see opportunity. It’s this vision and drive to improve that allows Dean Cooley GM to move from good to great. They manage the dealership around the idea of a 3-legged stool, with the legs representing customer enthusiasm, employee enthusiasm, and dealership profitability. Strong performance in sales and customer satisfaction helps service, parts and collision achieve an absorption rate that is unheard of for a lot of dealerships. Their impressive employee retention rate is attributed to clear and consistent reviews of employee performance, a structured training plan, and a strong belief in having fun while running a successful business. — Gwen Gareau, Senior Vice-President, iA Dealer Services
