ODonnell officially becomes WANADA CEO this week

OêDonnell officially becomes WANADA CEO this week

For the first time in 32 years, WANADA has a new chief of staff. Effective Tuesday of this week, July 1, 2014, John P. OêDonnell officially became president & CEO of the Washington Area New Automobile Dealers Association, taking over from Gerard N. Murphy, who held the post since 1982.

–To be sure, Iêm new as chief of staff here at WANADA, but Iêm anything but new to WANADA or its staff,” President OêDonnell said, referring to his 13 year tenure as a WANADA executive and an earlier business relationship with the WANADA dealer organization that antedates that experience by an additional 10 years. –Iêm not old, but Iêve been around WANADA in one way or another for 20 plus years starting when I was MDIPAês rep on WANADAês group insurance plan in the early 1990s,” said OêDonnell, 46. –Through it all, Iêm fortunate not to be superstitious, because if I was, Iêd likely be a bit creeped out right now recalling that my first day on staff at WANADA was Tuesday, September 11, 2001 for real! Then this week, Iêm promoted to CEO, again on a Tuesday, and in the lucky 13th year of my staff tenure.”

Shortly after graduating with a business degree from Loyola University in Baltimore, OêDonnell launched his career in insurance marketing at MDIPA in Rockville, Md, where, as mentioned, he interacted early on with WANADAês employee benefits programs. He joined WANADA in 2001 to reorganize the dealer associationês Group Insurance Operations into the full service insurance agency it is today that offers the complete gamut of employee benefits coverage to WANADA dealer and Kindred-line member employers. While continuing to direct the insurance agency at WANADA, OêDonnell was appointed by Murphy to be executive vice president and assistant CEO in 2006, because, as Murphy was fond of saying of OêDonnell, –anyone who can handle the insurance business of our members can handle anything else the association does.”

OêDonnellês involvement at WANADA for the past eight years plus as EVP, then, has been to work shoulder to shoulder with Murphy as assistant CEO, which has kept the pair hopping with WANADAês greatly expanded role in building the Washington Auto Show into the tier one event it has become as the Public Policy Show on the global industry circuit. WANADAês government relations role has ramped up substantially, too, in recent years with more regulator overreach at all levels and fresh challenges in OEM/dealer relations impacting the franchise system.

WANADA dealer leaders and Kindred-line members hosted a well attended, well received CEO transition evening several weeks ago that took a ballroom full of dealer principals, public officials and industry notables down memory lane where 82 years of the automobile business in Washington and the DC region was presented in an informative, lighthearted way. (See the WANADA Bulletin #21-14, Special Report on The Passing of The Keys Evening, reported June 10.)

Hitting the bricks running, OêDonnell and WANADAês Executive Committee appointed several staff officers from the ranks of senior professionals on the WANADA team to include shifting Murphy to the role of general counsel, which he has committed to do for a time before actually retiring; expanding Isabel Garciaês role as vice president of financial affairs to chief financial officer; naming Ed Mullaney in WANADAês Insurance Agency to vice president of insurance operations; and putting insurance department administrator Joe Koch on a path to become vice president of association operations in 2015.

–Besides calling the office, WANADA dealers can email me anytime at jod@wanada.org just as they can reach any of us on staff by each personês initials followed by @wanada.org.”

Click here for Gerry Murphyês letter to the membership on transitioning the CEO position to John OêDonnell from June 30th sent electronically at that time.