After 20 years of working in the auto industry, Justin Villa joined NADA Academy to learn extra tools of the trade.
Villa became general manager of Clay Cooley Nissan in Dallas less than a year ago. His boss enrolled him in the academy, which teaches legacy owners and managers best practices for running a dealership.
“It’s something I’ve wanted to do for a long time — the ability to add to my list of accomplishments, the knowledge from all the instructors — and then I always hear about the connections people make in class and the kind of lifelong friendships people lean on for information,” said Villa, 42. “I was really looking forward to that.”
Villa, sponsored by his bosses, is partly through the yearlong program. When he is in Virginia for an NADA Academy session, he stays at a nearby hotel with other classmates. He expects classes for his group to be done in October. Class subjects run the gamut, and sessions about technology cover practical areas such as inventory metrics, website efficiency and dealer marketing, he said.
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Like many in auto retailing, Villa grew up in the industry.
His grandfather Anthony Villa owned a used-car lot and body shop. His father, Fred Villa, and uncle Jim Dieffenwierth were both dealers. Twin brother Jason is general manager at a suburban Dallas Volkswagen store, and sister Toni Villa is a finance director at an Oklahoma dealership.
Justin Villa hopes to take the skills he learns from the NADA Academy and use them to boost the success of the dealership and eventually run multiple stores with a better awareness of how all the different parts of the business work together. As much as he learned from family, Villa said the academy takes it to a different level.
“You get the ability to learn from other people who are at the top of their game,” he said.
The program also helps to spur creativity, Villa said.
“It’s a chance to break the cycle and get some fresh ideas,” he said. “I look at it as a tremendous opportunity.”
Source: autonews.com