KADA held its 74th Annual Convention June 14-17, 2021, at the beautiful Hammock Beach Resort. It was wonderful being with everybody and participating in the many events that took place. You may have watched the short intro video we created for the convention. (If you missed it but are interested, there is a video link on page 18.) Although the year is officially over, we are delighted to have 2020 behind us, and we still think 2021 is our year to reclaim all the things the pandemic forced us to put on hold. The convention theme was clear: It’s a time to engage, energize and do what needs to be done.
The convention’s first day consisted of registration and a reception in the evening. The next day, Joe Cummins, Kim Huffman and I were in charge of the convention kick-off. That was followed by two sessions: a panel discussion about urban science and a presentation by John Iannarelli, a retired FBI special agent executive, about cybersecurity for auto dealerships. Participants were then free to enjoy the rest of the day until it was time for cocktails and a casual dinner.
On Wednesday, a group of KADA leaders, including me, Joe Cummins, Kim Huffman and Dan Renshaw, updated attendees on KADA. Glenn Mercer gave us an update about changes he expects to see in dealerships, and Dan Iosue and Loyd Rawls talked about the importance of succession planning.
The convention’s final day was Thursday, June 17, 2021. Golfers had breakfast together and then participated in a fun Golf Scramble, and the convention ended with cocktails and a farewell dinner.
You can see a few pictures from the convention starting on page 18. We had a great time eating s’mores, dancing, and learning how to roll Cuban cigars. There are a couple of fun videos of this on facebook.com/kadainc.
We are already looking forward to next year’s convention in Asheville, North Carolina, and we hope you will join us there June 20-23, 2022. Even though we are grateful for all the times we met virtually during the height of the pandemic, it’s still better to meet face to face.
Right after the convention, we held a Next Gen event on Tuesday, July 20, 2021, at the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky.
Following that, we hosted our KADA Golf Tournament on Monday, August 9, 2021 at the University Club of Kentucky in Lexington. I think we all appreciate getting together more than we did before the pandemic, but it has been quite a summer even without taking the pandemic into account.
I am excited about this issue of our magazine. Let me give you a brief introduction to some of the articles that may be useful for you:
- Lonnie Rogers wrote an article about the employee retention tax credit. We thought he did a great job explaining the tax credit, so we wanted to share it with you.
- The pandemic changed how we sell cars. We have an article about the dealership trends that are here to stay as a result.
- Cybersecurity is always top of mind for businesses these days, and dealerships are no exception. Julie Cardosi wrote her column about the need to evaluate data security components before a breach takes place.
- We’ve often introduced you to some of our marvelous dealers, but this time we decided to tell you more about your KADA Team by having a quick Q&A with Melissa Peach. She works in the KADA office as our accounting, membership and kadet administrator.
- If you’ve ever wondered whether car dealerships matter to Kentucky’s economy, wonder no more. We have a chart in this issue that shows just how important Kentucky dealers are; they provide jobs and pump cash into the economy.
KADA works hard to ensure that dealers have the latest information, and we provide many resources to help you do a better job running your dealership. We are growing: since January, we’ve added 29 dealer members, eight allied members and five preferred partners.
I am honored to be the KADA president, and I hope you will always feel comfortable contacting me or any of the other members of the KADA staff whenever you need help or information.
Be safe as we move from summer into fall!
