NADA recruits new CEO from dealer association ranks

NADA recruits new CEO from dealer association ranks

NADAs dealer leadership filled the National Dealer Associations chief of staff position last week after Phil Brady, who held the post for 11 years, resigned for another DC government relations assignment in August. After an extensive five-month search, NADA selected and hired Peter Welch, a longtime president and chief executive officer of the California New Car Dealers Association (CNCDA) headquartered in Sacramento. CNCDA is one of the largest and strategically important new car dealer associations in the Automotive Trade Associations network (ATAE), of which WANADA and about 75 other state and metropolitan dealer groups across the U.S. are members.

Peter is a fabulous pick to fill the CEO spot at NADA, coming to the job with a wealth of dealer association experience from one of the best managed and most successful ATAE organizations in the country, said WANADA CEO Gerard Murphy, a past chairman of ATAE and a longtime colleague of Welch. As head of the CNCDA, Peter has seen it all from a legislative, regulatory and legal stand point, given Californias proclivity for setting public policy trends, good and bad ones, that impact the automobile business, he said.

Besides the ATAE network and years of interaction with NADA working with Welch, Murphy has been involved with him in the National Association of Dealer Counsel, a lawyers network representing auto dealers on a host of timely regulatory and legal matters impacting the car business.

Tamara Darvish, WANADAs NADA director for Metropolitan Washington, said she looks forward to getting to know Peter Welch on the NADA board in his new role as president and CEO of NADA.