After more than a decade as president and CEO of Truck Center Companies in Omaha, Nebraska, Trey Mytty was named the Truck Dealer of the Year at the 2019 American Truck Dealers Show in San Francisco.

“This business started for me as a summertime job washing trucks and it has turned into many opportunities and meeting a lot of fantastic people,” said Mytty, who turned a part-time job in high school into a lifelong career. “It’s a great honor … Congratulations to all of the other nominees.”

Following his graduation from college, Mytty became a Freightliner truck sales rep. When the truck market saw a dramatic drop in 2000, Mytty took over as general manager of the dealership and was responsible for dealing with the 700 new trucks and 400 used trucks sitting on the dealership’s lots. In September of 2001, the dealership sold the last of what he calls “these older new trucks. During this truck bailout period, we never had a month where we lost money as a company.”

Truck Center Companies includes eight dealerships and parts and service facilities in Nebraska, Kansas, and Iowa, representing Freightliner, SelecTrucks, Freightliner Custom Chassis, Western Star, Thomas Built Buses, Ottawa, and Isuzu.

“One thing we know is that all of us have great products. The technological advances are amazing, and there’s good things happening. But I think really one of our biggest challenges is attracting people into our industry,” Mytty added. “We have 575 employees at our dealership and I’m very proud of them, and this is really their award for what they do every day.”

The national award, sponsored by ATD, Heavy Duty Trucking, and Procede Software, recognizes commercial-truck dealers who demonstrate a track record of success in dealership management, service to the industry and community impact.

Terry Minor, president and CEO of Cumberland International Trucks in Nashville, Tennessee, was named the Truck Dealer of the Year Finalist. After taking over an underperforming dealership in 2007, he “launched a process to change the culture of the organization with a directive to the leadership team to change something major in their department once a month.” The dealership quickly saw the impact of the new approach, and “a new culture developed which is stronger than ever today, with everyone in all departments focused on one task: improving the customer experience.”

The other nominees were David Kriete, president and CEO of Kriete Truck Centers in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.; Kim Mesfin, president of Affinity Truck Center in Fresno, California; Harry Moyer, president of Lowe and Moyer Garage in Fogelsville, Pennsylvania; and John Nichols, CEO of Palmer Trucks in Indianapolis.

The six nominees operated in 10 different states from 35 locations and represented nine commercial truck brands. The nominees were selected by ATD board members and dealer association executives. Professors from Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business in Bloomington, Indiana, evaluated the nominees.

For more insights about the truck market from the winner, finalist and all the nominees, stay tuned for a feature article in the February issue of HDT.