I have worked for 3M for 20 years in the collision market, with a strong focus on the Heavy-Duty Truck and Commercial Vehicle market. I am driven to provide solutions to increase efficiency and quality of repairs for my collision customers.
Working with the ASE Education Foundation to develop and implement an initiative for the automotive, medium/heavy truck and Collision industry to partner industry and education and open opportunities for student work-based learning and apprenticeships across the country. Since 2018, he has authored 5 articles annually for Fleet Maintenance Magazine. He also worked closely with U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration where he led the automotive strategic development team that advised the agency’s “High Growth Job Training Initiative”. He holds ASE certifications in Automotive & Medium/Heavy Duty Truck, Parts Specialist (Truck & Auto) and Service Consultant.
Jim Barber serves as Director – Fleet Sales & Service, NA-West at Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems LLC, a member of the Munich, Germany-based Knorr-Bremse. In his current role he manages the Bendix sales and service team for the western half of the U.S. as well as Mexico. Jim’s career in the commercial vehicle market spans over 30 years. He brings practical experience in service, dealer and fleet sales, and OEM account management.
Barber joined Bendix in 2012 as an OEM account manager after working in the automotive and heavy-duty industry. During his tenure with the organization he has progressed through the sales organization, holding key account management roles.
Jim began his career as a diesel mechanic and holds a degree from Mercer County Vocational Technical School and a Bachelor’s in Business Administration from American Intercontinental University.
Tim Barnes has over 25 years of experience in the heavy duty commercial vehicle market; specializing in parts sales, distributors and dealers, and fleets. Most recently Tim was the Director of Parts Sales in the Central US for Volvo Trucks, followed by a General Manager role for a Mack Truck dealership, and now currently a Sales Director at NFI Parts. NFI Parts is the aftermarket parts division supporting the NFI Group OE heavy bus divisions; Motor Coach Industries (MCI), New Flyer, ARBOC, and the Alexander Dennis brands. In this role Tim’s regional sales and customer service teams support MCI private coach operators in North America.
Steve is recognized as an outstanding Keynote Speaker, Motivator, Instructor and Consultant. His seminars are lively, informative, funny and insightful. His knowledge stems from a 20-year career at Management and Vice President level. His core competencies are in: Motivating a Sales Group, Exceptional Customer Service, Motivational Leadership, Life-Work Balance, Goal Setting, and Generational Differences. All of Steve’s programs are certified by the AMi (Automotive Management Institute) and his Exceptional Customer Service training seminars are certified by the Customer Service Institute of America. He has an extensive client list spanning over 20 years. Some of Steve’s current and past clients include: I-Car, NACE/CARS, ACANW (Auto Care Alliance-Northwest & Midwest), Automotive Training Expo (ATE), ASA-Nebraska, ACE Hardware, United Airlines, U. S. District Court, First Interstate Bank, CDW, Cardinal Health, Hollywood Casino, and Motorola Dealerships.
Working in an industry I am passionate about! As an Aftersales Development Manager for ISUZU Commercial Truck, I am responsible for a program and team that oversees and supports our product once it leaves the dealership. From Service, parts and everything in between my team works directly with the customers including fleets and repair shops providing parts, technical and general support.
With 29 years in the industry, I have worked in almost every field. Starting as a bodybuilder in my family’s business and then joined the ARMY as a Light and Heavy-duty vehicle mechanic. Excelling as a technician for a Kenworth dealership I was promoted to Service Manager at the age of 25. The next step in my career was working for a large fleet as the maintenance director responsible for all repair facilities and maintenance of over 1000 units. Finally landing me at ISUZU for the last 11 years where I have held the positions of District Service and Parts Manager, LBM (Regional Service and Parts), and my current position of Aftersales Development Manager.
Michael Brown has been with Great American Insurance Group for seven years and work within the Rig Ready Group in the trucking division. Prior to Great American, he worked as a heavy equipment appraiser with PDA in South Carolina and Ohio. He has been in the collision repair industry since 1988 holding positions of technician up to General Manager. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in business management.
Marc Brune is a business development manager at Mentor Mentee. As a former mentee himself, Marc speaks from experience to help businesses implement technical mentoring systems to counter the technician shortage.
Mark Claypool has worked in the fields of online web presence, marketing, occupational mentoring, training, workforce development and business education partnerships for 40 years. As an Automotive Management Institute (AMI) accredited master automotive manager (AMAM) he has founded four companies, two non-profits and one foundation in his career. He is currently the President and CEO of Optima Worldwide Limited/Optima Automotive (a web marketing agency). For 20 years Mark was a contributing editor for BodyShop Business magazine and a monthly columnist on web presence management. He was also named AMI’s 2018 Training Provider of the Year.
Normand Cormier started as a painter back in 1982 and worked in body shops for about 15 years. He was hired by Axalta in 1998 and spent close to 10 years as a Technical Representative. In 2007 he became the Training Instructor for Eastern Canada. He was promoted to the position of North American Classroom Training Manager in 2015.
Billy Eddy is the Technical Claims Investigation Director for SPARK Underwriters. Billy has 40 years of experience in the Automotive Industry at the OE Manufacturer, Commercial Insurance, Automotive Dealership and Automotive College Instructor levels. 28 years of insurance claims experience with claim investigations involving vehicles, medium and heavy-duty truck, farm equipment and machinery, industrial equipment, marine, recreational products, motorcycle, HVAC, plumbing, residential electrical and solar power, commercial and residential structure fires, automotive and equipment fires, commercial and light automotive tires, product liability claims, crash data retrieval and accident reconstruction. Billy actively volunteers and participates with advisory boards for local High Schools and Colleges, NATEF Accreditation Committee, and is a SKILLS USA Judge at local, state, and national level events.
Tom has been in the insurance industry for over 25 years. He has led claims operations in physical damage and casualty around the country. Tom currently oversees the physical damage program for specialty vehicles countrywide at National General Insurance, which includes RVs, heavy trucks, trailers, motorcycles, ATV’s/UTVs, and agricultural equipment and vehicles.
Dean Hancock is the former owner of Bob Johnson’s Body Shop in Cayce SC for 14 years. They specialized in heavy duty and automotive collision repair. He has spent the last 38 years in the collision industry. He spent 10 years as an automotive and commercial paint technician, 12 years as a paint manufacturer representative. He earned his Six Sigma black belt from Aveta Business Institute in October of 2012, I-Car Platinum certification in 2019, he also attended the University of Phoenix.
He also serves on the advisory board for the HD Repair Forum, facilitator for PPG Coatings Damage Analysis for commercial vehicles . His first-hand experience from years in commercial and automotive collision brings a unique approach to collision repair. He has a natural understanding of value and ability to process the critical thinking required in creating a lean organization.
John joined Ranken Technical College in 2003, after 20 years in the industry, as a full-time instructor specializing in structural damage repair and welding. In 2010, John was promoted to Ranken’s Collision Repair Department Chair. With John’s leadership, the department moved in a new direction by encouraging students and employers to collaborate through an internship training model and graduate top technicians. John launched the Professional Collision Technician program, at Ranken in 2018. It was through this program that the workforce development model, that later became Collision Engineering, came about. The Enterprise Holdings Foundation took notice of Johns’ model at Ranken in 2019, as a potential solution to the industry’s talent crisis. A grant from Enterprise that same year allowed Ranken to introduce Johns’ model on a national scale. John is currently serving as the National Program Director for this national model, Collision Engineering. Johns’ national workforce development program aims to address the skills shortage, revolutionize how future technicians are trained, and alter industry perceptions.
Mark Jennings has 32+ years of experience working in 3M’s Industrial Adhesives and Tapes Division. His roles include supporting industrial manufacturing customers, building construction, and box truck build and repair.
Jennifer King has had extensive formal training and experience in practical application of Six Sigma and Lean principles during her 25 years with PPG. Jennifer’s PPG career began as a bench chemist formulating industrial paints. In 2000, she joined the Refinish group and since has held leadership positions in technical, quality assurance, production, sales support, and marketing. Jennifer’s passion for others, entrepreneur spirit, and innate drive for continuous improvement has made “looking under the hood” of AdjustRite® fun!
A Montana native, Ron is an internationally known speaker, author, instructor, and business consultant with a passion for process improvement. After initially learning collision repair skills from his Grandfather as a young boy, Ron has held high-level positions with ICAR, Sherwin-Williams Automotive Finishes, and ABRA Auto Body & Glass.
After a career of over 40 years in the Collision Repair Industry, Ron started Collision Business Solutions in 2007 and began sharing his problem solving principles with other business segments. Similar success is now experienced with clients in other industries including a growing list of automotive and transportation service companies. Ron is a facilitator for several Axalta Business Councils, including Heavy Duty Truck Collision, RV Collision, and Automotive.
Besides working with independent and dealer collision shops, Collision Business Solutions also consults many shop owners and also assists in acquisitions and sales of collision businesses.
A veteran service professional, Joe’s career spans over 35 years in the commercial vehicle industry. He has held key customer-facing and management roles in field service, quality engineering, service engineering, and production engineering for multiple CVS segments.
Joe has been a member of the Bendix field service engineering team since 2014, delivering top-rated customer technical and troubleshooting assistance and conducting private and public instruction covering the Bendix product and technology portfolio. A highly regarded customer advocate, Joe has developed and judged national, regional, and fleet-level service competitions.
Joe holds an associate’s degree in business from Kilgore College, Kilgore, Texas.
I have worked for 3M for 34 years in a variety of R&D, Sales, and Application Engineering positions. I have spent the last 16 years in the collision market, focusing the last 6 years on Heavy-Duty Truck and Commercial Vehicle collision. My goal is to understand customer and market needs and bring 3M product and process solutions to the industry.
Tim McKinney started working for ITW Evercoat in 2003 as a Training Coordinator and worked his way up to the role as the Senior Applications Field Engineer. He started working in the automotive field back in 1984 in a salvage rebuilder shop and later worked for a local construction company as a painter repairing and painting trucks ranging in size from ½ tons up to heavy trucks. Prior to coming to ITW Evercoat worked as an technician and an estimator in local repair shops. While at ITW Evercoat Tim has worked with OEMs, Fire Truck and Ambulance manufacturers, Limousine / Hearse manufacturers, and Collision Repair Shops.
Tim Meeker is the Director of Product and Pricing in Navistar’s Parts Group. Tim joined Navistar in 2018 continuing a 20 year career in serving parts customers in rail and heavy duty industries.
Matt Melbye has 17+ years of application engineering expertise at 3M in the fields of industrial manufacturing, building construction, and box truck build and repair. He has over 7 years of experience working in the 3M Industrial Adhesives and Tapes division.
Born and raised on the farm in Central Minnesota Lakes Area. Moved to Rochester Minnesota to work in a Truck Equipment and Body Shop. Over the years, he worked his way up through multiple departments in the shop, including parts, service and sales, eventually taking on the General Manager role. Kelly later decided to leave the shop and pursue a career in the Insurance industry.
Kelly started with Federated Insurance as a Material Damage Appraiser, handling all types of losses from individual passenger vehicles, heavy truck, trailer and equipment claims. Kelly has handled large Catastrophe Losses for auto dealers, farm equipment dealers, and construction equipment dealers. He was promoted into the Home Office as a Supervisor and Trainer, creating their Heavy Truck and Equipment Claims Group. Kelly is the Home Office Claims Manager for Material Damage and oversees all Truck and Equipment Claims nationwide. Kelly has currently been with Federated Insurance for 35 years. He has also served on the NTHECC (National Truck and Heavy Equipment Claims Council) Board of Directors, as the Treasurer, President Elect and President, as well as being on several other committees.
Jeff began his career in the collision industry in 1984 in Automotive Branch Operations at Sherwin-Williams. He led teams in providing service to collision centers, developed employee training programs, and managed branch real estate issues. He continued to develop his background in operations and continuous improvement through management positions at Pella Windows & Doors and Chrysler Automotive Stamping Plant. Prior to joining AkzoNobel in 2012, Jeff was Director of Operations at a large, multi-shop collision center in Cleveland, Ohio. Jeff has a BA in Business Administration from Baldwin-Wallace University.
During nearly 27 years in the automotive field, Niel has developed a diverse skill set, both as a business owner and staff Subject Matter Expert, and currently is assisting with I-CAR’s plans for a second technical center. His diagnostics expertise and work in leading technologies like ADAS and electric vehicles provides him with a rich background to draw from for his other passions for technical training and speaking. He supports several technical committees; developed training curriculum and instructed 10,000 students annually for a Tier 1 Automotive supplier; holds a number of certifications, including High Voltage Technology Trainer; authored articles for the automotive trade press; and has spoken at automotive association events and international industry seminars.
Joffrey Starcher comes to TEXA USA with almost 20 years in successful sales and business development through multiple channels. His career has expanded over several industries including utilities, energy, and automotive. Joffrey is passionate about multi-brand diagnostics and the positive impacts they can make to alleviate challenges for today’s technicians. All vehicles are becoming more complex daily, we have a responsibility to continuously innovate, predict these challenges, and find real world solutions.
David B Willett is the CUO and co-founder of SPARK Underwriters – committed to the automotive repair industry. He was a founder of the Universal Underwriters which insured close to 16,000 automotive businesses including about 6,000 Collision Repairers. An AMI Board Member and several industry committees including CIC and CIECA, David has shared his experience with shop owners at SEMA, CARS, World Tire Expo, NAPG, Vision, CollisionAdvice, CoyoteVision, GAAS and more including the newly formed Southeast Collision Conference. He holds several insurance designations – Commercial Property Casualty Underwriter CPCU, Cyber Risk Designation CYB, Associate Loss Control Management ALCM.