NAAA President Meets with Convention Committee in San Francisco. (l to r): Frank Hackett (NAAA), Jamye Carpenter (Auction Insurance Agency); Mitzi Van Voorhis (DAA Northwest);Tracy Stuckrath (Manheim); Bob McConkey (NAAA President); Charlotte Pyle (Capital City Auto Auction); Kelly Beach (NAAA); and Jay Cadigan (NAAA Vice President).

FREDRICK, MD - Following a trip to the Southern U.S. in mid-November, NAAA President Bob McConkey embarked on the second leg of his “President’s Tour” in early December with NAAA President-Elect Dave Angelicchio and Executive Director Frank Hackett.

His first port of call was San Francisco where he worked with NAAA’s convention committee to plan the 2009 convention. He then turned east to Indianapolis for a tour of ADESA headquarters and a meeting with company executives.

McConkey met with the convention committee at the San Francisco Marriott, the location for next year’s annual convention, planned for September 29 through October 2, 2009.

Leaving the City by the Bay, Angelicchio and Hackett flew to Indianapolis to drop in on Steve Kesler, President of Kesler-Schaefer Auto Auction, which celebrates its 65th anniversary this year. Kesler is a third-generation auction owner, and the grandson of the auction’s founders, Ken and Eleanor Schaefer.

“Steve’s grandfather, Ken Schaefer, opened this auction in 1943 with the sale of a dozen cars inside a rented tent,” stated Hackett. “From this humble beginning, Schaefer’s vision would lead not only to the thriving business that is run today by his grandson Steve, but, interestingly enough, to the founding of the NAAA.”

Hackett explained that Schaefer met with five other auction owners in 1948 to establish the National Automobile Auction Protective Association, which would later become the NAAA.

McConkey joined Angelicchio and Hackett in Indianapolis, where they met with ADESA executives Jim Hallett and Warren Byrd to discuss current NAAA initiatives and the economy’s impact on the auction industry.

“Certainly the economy is on everyone’s minds these days, and we discussed at length the current state of the industry with ou good friends and colleagues Jim Hallett and Warren Byrd at ADESA,” said McConkey. “We value their insights as well as their suggestions for the many opportunities that exist for strategic cooperation among the various entities of the NAAA.”

McConkey reports that the meeting at ADESA also included discussion of the current NAAA committee and task force structure. The group outlined in detail the new NAAA Customer Relations Committee, which ADESA’s Jane Morgan co-chairs with Charlotte Pyle, owner Capital City Auto Auction in West Virginia.

“As I continue my tour as NAAA President, I am reminded time and time again of the skill, experience and dedication of our membership, which continues to build and strengthen our association. It is a delight to meet with NAAA members across the country whose commitment to our industry is exemplified in the work they do for their businesses as well as the efforts they make on behalf of our Association.”