DETROIT, Feb. 9, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- In recognition
of outstanding community stewardship during a time of crisis,
Rick DeSilva Jr., owner of
Liberty Subaru in Emerson, New
Jersey, was announced as the 2021 TIME Dealer of the Year by
leaders from TIME and Ally Financial at the 104th
National Automotive Dealers Association Show.
The New Jersey-area dealer's
ongoing charitable work, particularly during the unprecedented
challenges of the past year, earned DeSilva the most prestigious
award in the automotive dealer industry. Among DeSilva's most
recent community service efforts was his involvement as vice
president of the Mahwah Board of
Education in the planning of safely bringing students and staff
back to school during the COVID-19 pandemic. DeSilva was chosen
from a field of nearly 17,000 franchised dealers across the
country, 40 of whom made the nominee list.
Doug Timmerman, president of Auto
Finance at Ally, and Viktoria
Degtar, global chief revenue officer of TIME, announced
DeSilva as the winner at a virtual ceremony honoring all the dealer
nominees. Timmerman remarked: "America's auto dealers have led the
way, in their communities and the broader auto industry, during an
incredibly challenging year. The TIME Dealer of the Year nominees
stand out for their ingenuity in business and unwavering commitment
to giving back in their local communities."
In addition to DeSilva, four dealers were recognized as TIME
Dealer of the Year finalists:
- Christine Alicandro-Karnolt,
Marty's GMC Buick, Kingston,
Massachusetts
- Timothy Crenwelge, Crenwelge
Motors, Kerrville, Texas
- Michael Molstead, Mike Molstead
Motors, Inc., Charles City,
Iowa
- Christina Dawkins, Co's BMW
Center, Loveland, Colorado
Ally, exclusive sponsor of the TIME Dealer of the Year Award,
will give $10,000 to the charity of
DeSilva's choice. Ally also will donate $5,000 to each of the nonprofit organizations
selected by the four finalists and Jim
Appleton, president of the New Jersey Coalition of
Automotive Retailers, who nominated DeSilva for the award, will
also select a charity recipient. In recognition of their
achievements and generosity, Ally also gave $1,000 to the charities of choice for each of 40
nominees. For more information on each of the nominees, please
visit www.AllyDealerHeroes.com.
DeSilva's Journey to Becoming TIME Dealer of the Year
DeSilva, a 1993 graduate of Mahwah High School in Mahwah, New Jersey, earned a B.S. in marketing
from Clemson University in Clemson, South Carolina, in 1997. He always
wanted to follow in his father's footsteps and run an auto
dealership. After college, DeSilva entered a management training
program with Toyota Motor Sales, USA, learning about customer service, sales
and fixed operations. That experience would prove invaluable when
he returned to the family business in 2003 to open Liberty Hyundai
in Mahwah with his father and
brother. Today, the Liberty Family of Dealerships also includes
Liberty Kia in Ramsey, New Jersey, and Genesis of
Mahwah.
DeSilva is an active member of the New Jersey Coalition of
Automotive Retailers, having served on the association's board of
trustees since 2008 and as chairman in 2017.
A recipient of the Subaru Love Promise Customer & Community
Commitment Award since the program's inception, DeSilva's
dealership hosts annual pet adoption events and has supported
Adopt-a-Soldier Platoon; Special Olympics New Jersey Torch Run;
Jersey Cares Coat Drive; the Valerie Fund (aids children with
cancer and blood disorders); Ramapo
College Foundation; New York-New Jersey Trail Conference;
Bergen Highlands Ramsey Rotary Gift of Life, among other
organizations.
DeSilva has been committed to promoting improvements in
education within his community. He was elected to the Mahwah Board of Education in 2012 and
continues to serve, currently as first vice president. Over the
course of DeSilva's time with the group, he has successfully hired
superintendents, expanded bus service to underserved areas and
improved facilities, including the creation of a new STEAM
[science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics]
center.
The TIME Dealer of the Year winner and finalists were chosen by
a faculty panel from the Tauber Institute for Global Operations at
the University of Michigan. Dealers are
nominated for the award by state and regional automotive trade
association executives.
About Ally Financial Inc.
Ally Financial Inc. (NYSE: ALLY) is a leading digital
financial-services company with $182.2
billion in assets as of December
31, 2020.As a customer-centric company with passionate
customer service and innovative financial solutions, we are
relentlessly focused on "Doing it Right" and being a trusted
financial-services provider to our consumer, commercial, and
corporate customers. We are one of the largest full-service
automotive-finance operations in the country and offer a wide range
of financial services and insurance products to automotive
dealerships and consumers. Our award-winning online bank
(Ally Bank, Member FDIC and Equal
Housing Lender) offers mortgage lending, personal lending, and a
variety of deposit and other banking products, including savings,
money-market, and checking accounts, certificates of deposit (CDs),
and individual retirement accounts (IRAs). Additionally, we offer
securities-brokerage and investment-advisory services through Ally
Invest. Our robust corporate finance business offers capital for
equity sponsors and middle-market companies.
For more information and disclosures about Ally, visit
https://www.ally.com/#disclosures.
For further images and news on Ally, please visit
http://media.ally.com.
Contact:
Ann Smith
Ann.Smith@ally.com
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