WANADA is pleased to announce that John Bowis, president of Chevy Chase Acura in Bethesda, and chairman of WANADA, will represent the Metropolitan Washington Area as a 2019 Time Magazine Dealer of the Year.
The Time Dealers are put forward by auto dealer associations across the U.S. and Canada and are recognized at the NADA Convention, which this year is set for Jan. 25, 2019, in San Francisco. The Time Dealer of the Year program honors new-car dealers who are exceptionally successful as automotive retailers, industry change agents and community leaders. Bowis was nominated by WANADA President John O’Donnell.
“As a third-generation automobile dealer, this business is in my blood,” Bowis said.
After earning a BA degree in government and law from Lafayette College in Easton, Pa., Bowis joined Chevy Chase Cars, a family owned and operated dealership, full-time as a sales representative; from there, he spent six years rotating through every department in the store.
Early on is his positon at Chevy Chase, Bowis attended Pat Ryan & Associates F&I School in Chicago and the Chevrolet Dealer Management Program in Warren, Ill. Today, John Bowis runs the business that his grandfather, Art Bowis, founded in 1939, and his father, Fred Bowis, operated as his predecessor.
“My father and grandfather believed that the only way to achieve success was through customer satisfaction, but to have a great CSI, first you have to have a great employee relations,” Bowis said. Just as John followed his father, Fred, in Chevy Chase Cars, he also follows Fred as a recipient of the Time Dealer Award.
Bowis says he is proud to create a culture in his store that fosters long-term career opportunity, noting that four of his staff members at Chevy Chase retired after 50 years of service and three more have been with the company for between 40 and 50 years.
As current chairman of WANADA and a member of the Association’s Executive Committee for many years, Bowis has worked diligently to influence public policy on behalf of the auto industry.
“I have been asked to speak to public policy decision makers, elected officials, urban planners, transportation planners, trade association leaders, businesses and civic and community groups on the future of transportation and mobility,” he said.
Bowis is equally committed to bettering his community. One of his most important civic contributions is his work for The Children’s Inn at NIH. This facility provides homelike housing for families to use while their children are undergoing treatment. For 26 years, Chevy Chase Cars hosted an auto show at the dealership to raise money for the Inn.
Other groups Bowis supports include Best Buddies in the Capital Region; YMCA Youth and Family Services; Alzheimer’s Association; Bethesda Green; Bethesda Cares; Humane Rescue Alliance; and The Combat Soldiers Recovery Fund.
The Dealer of Year Award is sponsored by Time in conjunction with Ally Financial and in cooperation with NADA.
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