AMI Announces NACE, CARS Scholarship Winners

Nine scholarships have been awarded to recipients planning to attend either the Congress of Automotive Repair and Service (CARS) or the International Autobody Congress and Exposition (NACE).

Six of the scholarships are for CARS; three are for NACE. Each scholarship recipient has received money to apply toward expenses associated with attending CARS or NACE, including registration fees, airfare and hotel expenses.

The NACE scholarship recipients are:

Sanfillipo

• Joe Sanfillipo III, chief operating officer for USA Collision Centers in Cincinnati, who is the recipient of this year's Emil Stanley Merit Award. His winning the award was announced by the Automotive Management Institute (AMI) and the Automotive Service Association (ASA).

The award honors Emil Stanley, who was publisher of Automotive Body Repair News (ABRN) until his death in 1989. Stanley was committed to strengthening professionalism of the collision repair industry through education. He was a strong advocate of NACE, the world's largest collision repair event.

As the award recipient, Sanfillipo will receive complimentary registration, air transportation, and hotel accommodations to attend NACE 2008.

Solmes

• David Solmes, president, Dewey's Auto Body Inc., Hastings, Mich. He is the recipient of this year's BodyShop Business Magazine scholarship. The recipient receives $1,000 to be applied toward expenses to attend NACE.

His winning the scholarship was announced by AMI and Babcox Publications.

Hayes

• Vanessa Hayes, body shop manager for Saturn of Tucson, Tucson, Ariz. She is the recipient of this year's Richard Cossette/Gale Westerlund Memorial Scholarship. Her winning was announced by AMI and ASA.

Cossette owned Lehman's Garage in Minneapolis, Minn. He was a charter founder of AMI and a $50,000 Charter Counselor contributor to AMI's resource development effort, EXCEL. He was awarded an honorary Accredited Automotive Manager (AAM) designation in 1997 to recognize his commitment and dedication to AMI. He also held numerous leadership positions on the ASA board of directors and was active in several industry organizations until his death in 2002.

Westerlund owned and operated Gale's Auto Center in Blaine, Minn., and was a $25,000 Guarantor contributor to EXCEL. He also held numerous leadership positions on the ASA board of directors and was active in several industry organizations until his death in 2002.

Hayes also will receive $1,000 to help cover expenses for NACE.

The CARS scholarship winners, all of whom will receive $1,000 toward expenses to attend CARS, include:

Evans

• Curtis Evans, president and owner, Evans Automotive Service Center Inc., Pensacola, Fla. He is the recipient of the Tom B. Babcox Memorial Scholarship, which recognizes a management-oriented member of ASA's Mechanical Division.

His announcement was made by AMI in conjunction with Babcox Publications.

Lipetzky

• Chelsea Lipetzky, assistant service consultant, Werner's Mastertek, Aurora, Colo. She is the winner of the Zurich "High Octane" scholarship. Her announcement came from AMI in conjunction with Zurich (formerly Universal Underwriters Group).

Larson

Piippo

Craig

• Isaiah Craig, Diane Larson and Thomas Piippo, the recipients of the AVI Education Scholarship. Their announcement was made by AMI in conjunction with Automotive Video Inc. (AVI).

Craig is the owner of Performance West Inc., Santa Rosa,Calif. Larson is owner and manager for John Larson's Service Inc. in Peabody, Mass. Piippo is the owner of Tri-County Motors in Rudyard, Mich.

Portnoff

• Shane Portnoff, recipient of the AESWave.com "Building a Learning Culture" Technician Scholarship.

Portnoff's announcement was made by AMI in conjunction with Automotive Electronics Service Inc. (AESWave.com).

He is the owner of Aliso Viejo Auto Service in Aliso Viejo, Calif.

For the first time, NACE and CARS will be held at the same time and in the same place in Las Vegas. They will be held Nov. 5-8 and will be co-located at the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Convention Center. Also new this year is Automotive Service & Repair Week (ASRW), the umbrella under which CARS and NACE will be held.

ASRW will be an industrywide event that includes both the collision and mechanical segments of automotive service and repair, yet it will enable each event to maintain its own unique market identity. It will simply allow both collision and mechanical service professionals to benefit from both NACE and CARS.

AMI was established to answer the demand for continuing education tailored specifically for the business needs of the automotive industry.

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