The nomination of Michael Kopp, dealer partner at North Country Ford in Lancaster, New Hampshire, for the 2021 TIME Dealer of the Year award was announced by TIME.
Kopp is one of a select group of 40 dealer nominees from across the country who will be honored at the 104th annual National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) Show being held virtually February 9-11, 2021. The announcement of this year’s annual award was made by Viktoria Degtar, Global Chief Revenue Officer, TIME, and Doug Timmerman, president of Auto Finance for Ally Financial.
The TIME Dealer of the Year award is one of the automobile industry’s most prestigious and highly coveted honors. Recipients are among the nation’s most successful auto dealers who also demonstrate a long-standing commitment to community service. Kopp, 51, was chosen to represent the New Hampshire Automobile Dealers Association in the national competition – one of only 41 auto dealers nominated for the 52nd annual award from more than 16,000 nationwide.
“The most rewarding aspect of my career has been working as part of a ‘family’ for many years,” nominee Kopp said. “Some of us literally are family, but there are also those heavily invested, longtime employees who have shared our wins and losses. Time blurs the lines between employee, friend and family, and eventually you find yourself spending your workday with a committed group who cares as much about the business and customers as you do.”
Kopp earned a B.S. in marketing from Plymouth State College (now Plymouth State University) in Plymouth, New Hampshire, in 1992. After college, he went to work full-time at his family’s dealership, originally founded by his grandfather in 1959 as North Country Motor Sales.
“My father joined the dealership in 1966, and when I was young, much of our life revolved around the ‘garage,’” he said. “Beyond the basic tasks assigned to someone growing up in a family car business, including washing cars, clearing snow, etc., I began my more formal employment in our body shop working as a technician during summers and winter breaks while in college.”
He also worked in the body shop of a GMC store near college, a job that earned him extra money for school and provided valuable perspectives on how other dealerships were managed.
Kopp honed his skills in sales at North Country Ford and in 2005, together with his father and brother Keith (who joined the business in 1995), opened an independent used-car dealership, Schurman Motor Company, also in Lancaster. Kopp helped launch and establish that business before turning his attention back to North Country Ford in preparation for his father’s retirement in 2008. Today, he and his brother are equal partners in the family enterprise, which also includes a collision center.
“I was fortunate to be raised in a loving, intact, family,” Kopp said. “My father was an excellent mentor for both business and life, and set good examples of integrity, common sense and resourcefulness. My mother was a quiet, steady supporter of the family and the business.”
He also credits a highly functioning and productive partnership with his brother and the strong support of his wife, Sharon, for contributing to his success. “She is a great sounding board and her advice is usually spot on,” Kopp said.
His experience working in a multi-generational, family-owned business has allowed Kopp to wear many hats and tackle challenges head-on. He brought that same flexibility and determination to his years serving on the board of directors of the New Hampshire Automobile Dealers Association from 2012 to 2019, where he was also chair from 2017 to 2018.
“My time on the board was during a period of recovery for New Hampshire’s auto industry after the recession, so I worked with state legislators to bolster our Dealer Bill of Rights,” Kopp said. “And after the industry bounced back, we had a shortage of trained workers, so we developed a new fundraiser, the Big Raffle, to boost the association’s education foundation. This popular event has enabled the foundation to distribute more than $100,000 per year in scholarships to maintain a skilled workforce for dealers.”
Kopp’s hands-on approach to tackling challenges applies to his volunteerism as well. He has been a member of the Lancaster Fire Department, which relies on local volunteers to battle fires, since 1999 and currently serves as assistant chief.
“I have been one of the top five most active members annually throughout my entire career,” he said. “My proximity to the firehouse and love of service has allowed me to help my community during emergencies. No matter how busy we are, and especially during a time when many towns are suffering from a reduction in volunteerism, I think civic duty is extremely important.”
Kopp also currently serves the North Country Public Safety Foundation (board member since 2011); St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Lancaster (senior warden since 2017); White Mountains Regional High School in Whitefield, New Hampshire (CTE program advisory board since 2017); Hugh J. Gallen Career & Technical Center in Littleton, New Hampshire (automotive technology advisory board member since 2017); and Manchester Community College in Manchester, New Hampshire (Ford ASSET program advisory board member since 2017).
“I sincerely believe in donating my time outside the business and giving back to the community,” Kopp said. “And much of that outgoing effort flows right back through the front door in the form of appreciative customers.”
Dealers are nominated by the executives of state and metro dealer associations around the country. The award is sponsored by TIME in association with Ally Financial, and in cooperation with NADA. A panel of faculty members from the Tauber Institute for Global Operations at the University of Michigan will select one finalist from each of the four NADA regions and one national Dealer of the Year. Three finalists will receive $5,000 for their favorite charities and the winner will receive $10,000 to give to charity.
In its tenth year as exclusive sponsor, Ally will also recognize dealer nominees and their community efforts by contributing $1,000 to each nominee’s 501(c)3 charity of choice. Nominees will be recognized on AllyDealerHeroes.com, which highlights the philanthropic contributions and achievements of TIME Dealer of the Year nominees.
“The TIME Dealer of the Year award celebrates the country’s top dealers who understand that their businesses thrive when they give back and help their communities grow,” Timmerman said. “In short, the award recognizes dealers who do it right in their businesses and in their communities.”
Kopp was nominated for the TIME Dealer of the Year award by Peter McNamara, president of the New Hampshire Automobile Dealers Association. He and his wife, Sharon, have three children.
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About Ally Financial Inc.
Ally Financial Inc. (NYSE: ALLY) is a leading digital financial-services company with $185.3 billion in assets as of September 30, 2020. As a customer-centric company with passionate customer service and innovative financial solutions, we are relentlessly focused on “Doing it Right” and being a trusted financial-services provider to our consumer, commercial, and corporate customers. We are one of the largest full-service automotive-finance operations in the country and offer a wide range of financial services and insurance products to automotive dealerships and consumers. Our award-winning online bank (Ally Bank, Member FDIC and Equal Housing Lender) offers mortgage lending, personal lending, and a variety of deposit and other banking products, including savings, money-market, and checking accounts, certificates of deposit (CDs), and individual retirement accounts (IRAs). Additionally, we offer securities-brokerage and investment-advisory services through Ally Invest. Our robust corporate finance business offers capital for equity sponsors and middle-market companies.
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About the NADA Show
The annual NADA Show brings together more than 20,000 franchised dealers and their employees, industry leaders, manufacturers and exhibitors to learn about the latest auto industry tools, trends, products and technologies.