GERMANTOWN, Tenn. — The
Auto Pride Network recently honored founding member and Chairman Dick
Battista with the Outstanding Leadership Award at the group’s
membership meeting held in March in Orlando, Fla.
Auto Pride Network Board member Rick Thul spoke about Battista’s contributions to the automotive industry.
Thul
said, “Not only was Dick the chairman for IWD for the past 25 years, he
has served on both our Auto and Truck Product Committees responsible
for negotiating our deals with vendors. He has also been on the
Marketing Committees for both Auto and Truck. He has also been one of
our managing directors, running the company for most of these years.
Dick has been a tireless advocate for IWD and all of its members. More
than a few of our members that have had a problem with a vendor or were
trying to obtain a line have had Dick Battista make the calls that
resulted in a solution. If you ask anyone who has served on our board
and committees, when it comes to tackling a project or a negotiation,
there is no person we would rather have in the room than Dick Battista.”