🚗 NAMAD’s new leadership, led by Damon Lester, launches a member survey to address unique needs and boost minority dealer profitability. 📝 #AutoNews #Leadership
MIAMI BEACH, Fla. — The National Association of Minority Automobile Dealers is conducting its own survey of members’ attitudes to provide a more focused view of the group’s needs and how they might differ from other U.S. car retailers.
Damon Lester, NAMAD’s new chair, launched the survey as a complement to the group’s twice-yearly surveys, which he called a “great tool” for evaluating manufacturers and their brands.
Minority automobile dealers — many of whom are capital-constrained — sometimes have different needs and priorities, Lester said.
“Out of the 19,000 dealerships — and we’re only 1,400 — we can kind of get lost in that data mix,” he said in an interview for the Daily Drive podcast.
Lester said his focus for the next two years will be increasing the number of minority dealers, dealer profitability and highlighting the unique needs of Black, Hispanic and Asian auto retailers in the U.S.
Lester, formerly the president of NAMAD, succeeded Damian Mills as chairman. Other new roles include Vice Chairman Ray Fregia Jr., Treasurer Robert Valdes and Secretary James “Jay” Rivchin.
Fregia is a Stellantis dealer based in Chicago; Valdes is a Ford dealer from El Centro, Calif.; and Rivchin is a Stellantis and Hyundai dealer from the Miami area.
Lester is the owner of Nissan of Bowie in Maryland.