Pub. 1 Issue 3

VIRGINIA AUTO DEALER www.vada.com 8 How did you become a car dealer? Did you always aspire to be part of the automotive industry? My dad, Jack Perno, was a Ford dealer in Chicago. I started working there when I was 14 years old. I grew up in the family business, and until my dad sold the dealership in 1976, my expectation was that it would continue to run as a family enterprise. But two important things happened right around that same time that pro- pelled me forward. e rst is that I met my wife at my dad’s dealership in Chicago. Kathy’s dad, Jack Rohrer, was a purchasing agent for the Ford stamping plant. My dad’s dealership was the closest, so that’s where Kathy brought her car in to be serviced. It was the middle of the a ernoon, I wasn’t as busy as I should have been, she was good-looking, and suddenly, my customer service went through the roof. We needed to keep her car, and she needed a rental – which I paid for out of my own pocket. e work was completed, and of course I called to make sure the work was satisfac- tory. I asked her out, and she declined. I asked again, and, well, the rest is history. I knew her dad. Before I started dating his daughter, he was Jack. A er I started dating his daughter, he was Mr. Rohrer. e next thing was that I learned early that my future was in the auto industry – it’s what I knew, and because my dad sold his dealership, I had to go nd my career. I was fortunate in that I had a lot of op- portunities. I was able to start work at my dad’s best friend’s dealership, Celozzi- Ettleson Chevrolet. I was a service manag- er at 22, and I never looked back. Sounds like your career trajectory in the industry was mostly upward? Not all the time. I worked hard. I felt that I had a lot to accomplish. Kathy and I relocated to northern Virgin- ia in 1978. I was a GM at a local dealer- ship. I was able to own a small percentage in a Toyota dealership in 1980, and by 1984, I had a larger percentage of owner- ship in a Chevrolet dealership with Bob Rosenthal, someone I admired tremen- dously who taught me a lot. In 1988, I le the Rosenthal organization, and opened a Pontiac dealership in Spring eld, Virgin- ia. I was 34. By 1990, I closed the dealer- ship – it was the wrong place, the wrong time and the wrong car. I don’t think any career in any eld is mostly upward. You grow, you learn, and you do things better. I joined the Kline organization in 1990. In 1998, Jimmy Kline passed away and the Kline organization became Priority in Chesapeake, Virginia. I was able to buy into the organization in 2003, and we started adding stores and growing. In 2014, I bought out my partners. I was 60 years old. Do you have family members in the auto industry? I do. Two of my sons work in our deal- erships, and my cousin’s son, Justin Ho man, is a GSM for a Nissan dealer- ship. My boys, Shaun and Ryan, worked their way up. It really wasn’t a glamou- rous rise. I have an underlying belief that dealers’ kids can be lazy and entitled, and if they don’t have the proper background, they ruin businesses. Both of my boys worked in all areas of our dealerships for months – Ryan for one year and Shaun for six months. Shaun’s training was a little more accelerated due to our internal time constraints. Both of them learned every area of how a dealer- ship works, and I am proud to say that the managers in each of the areas lobbied for them to stay. Today, they are settled and working in di erent stores, which I think is a good idea, since we also see each other as family. So there’s a little space. Are there any specific individuals who had a major impact on your career? Bob Rosenthal. His best advice was this: keep your employees close, and make time for family. Both are something that I have worked to foster over the years. Chair Dave Perno Priority Toyota Richmond Chairman Interview