by Todd Phillips
After recently winning the prestigious J.D. Power and Associates award for “highest in dealer satisfaction with floor planning,” the team running Scotiabank’s automotive practice decided to give something back to their dealer customers by investing some money in young people entering the automotive industry.
Caption: Big cheque for Georgian students. From left to right: Rick Gauthier (CADA), Ron Porter, (Scotiabank), Marie-Noelle Bonicalzi (Georgian College), Ruth McBride, Alain Henry (Scotiabank). Photo by: Niel Hiscox, Canadian auto dealer
The Scotiabank Auto Dealer Recognition Award was set up to provide scholarships for students in the Canadian Automotive Institute (CAI) at Georgian College.
“We looked at thanking our dealership customers with some sort of momento,” said Ron Porter, Scotiabank’s Senior Vice-President, Automotive Finance and Indirect Lending, in an interview at the Canadian auto dealer’s Markham, Ont. office. “But then we thought why not create an award with the Canadian Automotive Institute and support the dealership community?”
Scotiabank’s $10,000 award will fund an annual scholarship for the college’s diploma and degree programs.
“There is a succession issue in the dealership world that needs to be addressed,” says Porter. “You have to find the young people that are going to take the business into the next generation. This is supporting their financial needs to get the education that will position them to move into the dealership world.”
This new scholarship award is more evidence of the support that the automotive industry provides for the CAI. Apart from providing curriculum development and accepting co-op students, this year alone industry will provide almost $130,000 in scholarships and awards to deserving CAI students. (Click here to view all the 2010 scholarship awards and winners.)
“It’s a win-win,” said Marie-Nöelle Bonicalzi, Dean of the Canadian Automotive Institute. “It helps support the students at a time in their life where their education is very expensive.”
Bonicalzi said Scotiabank has already provided support for the college and this latest effort is much appreciated. “The award fits very well with the profile that Scotiabank already has with our organization.”
Bonicalzi says the success of the program is built through ongoing collaboration with industry partners. “This is the strength of the college system, to be working very closely with industry and partners.”
“I’m thrilled,” said Richard Gauthier, President and CEO of the Canadian Automobile Dealers Association (CADA), and one of the CAI’s biggest backers. “I can’t thank Scotiabank enough. I think you’ve placed your money on a winning bet. This is a winning horse… I think it shows how importantly Scotiabank values their relationship with the car dealers in Canada.”
Gauthier has been involved with the CAI for 15 years, and says a highlight of his job each year is to meet the graduates each year when he delivers a keynote speech at the annual convocation ceremony. “I really get to see the students when they come in, sometimes with their nose rings and purple hair. But by the time they come up to accept their diploma or degree a few years later I’ve seen a real metamorphasis, a real transformation. They are absolutely inspiring.”
Gauthier says he wished there was a CAI program when he was going through university. “I see the CAI campus as a feeder campus for the industry. This is where we get the fresh young talent for tomorrow.”
The CAI was founded in 1985 to provide the automotive industry with business professionals able to take on leadership roles in the industry. The initiative was created and supported with the support of the automotive industry, led by the Canadian Automobile Dealers Association, vehicle manufacturers, retailers, aftermarket sectors and Georgian College.
The graduates have an incredible placement rate of more than 90 per cent, finding careers in all sectors of the auto industry from dealerships, aftermarket, finance and insurance, e-commerce and remarketing, corporate head office, fleet leasing and operations, marketing and event management.
The leaders from Scotiabank’s automotive retail business, Georgian College and the Canadian Automobile Dealers Association met yesterday at the Canadian Automobile Dealers Association’s Markham, Ont. offices to deliver the cheque, pose for photos and be interviewed by Canadian auto dealer magazine.
For more information, visit: http://www.thecai.on.ca/
