ORLANDO, Fla., Feb. 13, 2010 – E.G. Leipheimer IV, President of Discovery Buick GMC, a Buick and GMC dealership in Anaconda, Mont., was named the TIME Magazine Dealer of the Year from Montana.
Leipheimer was chosen to represent the Montana Automobile Dealers Association in the national competition. The award is sponsored by TIME Magazine in association with Goodyear, and in cooperation with NADA.
Leipheimer graduated from Butte (MT) High School in 1977, and decades later attended Montana Tech, in Butte, where he studied nursing with the goal of improving his skills as an E.M.T. But it was at age 12 that Leipheimer began his employment career, peeling potatoes for the local drive-in. He then turned to the family business, working at his father Ed’s dealership, Leipheimer Datsun, as a Lot Tech, then in Parts, then doing disbursement and general ledger, which, he says, “opened my eyes to the accounting end,” adding, “I grew up in the business, so I knew what would be expected of me.”
Venturing beyond the family business for a stretch, Leipheimer worked as tire man for Whalen Tire and then as a delivery driver for Chevron in the late 1970s and early 1980s, but, at 21, “With a new family and starving, I decided to try out sales,” says Leipheimer. “My parents had never given me anything but opportunities and what I did with them was of my own doing,” he explains. “Along with learning car salesmanship, I was afforded the opportunity to run a car rental franchise [Payless Car Rental in Butte] on my own. Through hard work and a little luck, I was able to grow a nest egg that allowed me to purchase my GM dealership in 1984 [Discovery Buick GMC in Anaconda]. At the age of 24, I was the youngest General Motors Dealer in the United States.”
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