ORLANDO, Fla., Feb. 13, 2010 – Michael R. Hale, Dealer Principal of Mike Hale Acura, an Acura dealership in Murray, Utah, was named the TIME Magazine Dealer of the Year from Utah.
Hale was chosen to represent the New Car Dealers of Utah in the national competition. The award is sponsored by TIME Magazine in association with Goodyear, and in cooperation with NADA.
While studying to be a dentist at the University of Utah in the 1970s, Hale worked part-time in the automobile business. During that time, he developed a love for the dealership environment and decided to pursue a career in auto sales.
Hale had graduated from East High School in Salt Lake City, UT, in 1970, and then majored in Community Health at the University of Utah, but his change of heart during senior year at college led him to fulltime employment as a salesman with Schettler Williams Datsun Volvo in Salt Lake City from 1976-’77. He spent the next four years at Salt Lake City’s Ken Garff Imports moving through a series of positions: advisor, assistant manager for parts, salesman, lease/business manager and sales manager.
As the Sales Manager of Ken Garff Rolls Royce/Mercedes, I was approached by Mercedes Benz to buy into a troubled dealership in Tri-Cities, Washington. We turned the dealership around; my partner bought me out and I moved back to Salt Lake to the Garff organization where my goal was to find a new franchise.” After a couple of years in partnership with Garff, a new opportunity came Hale’s way.
Read the press release
|
