Welch, who has spent much of his career representing dealer interests, said making the association "leaner and meaner" by selling its NADA Used Car Guide, exiting the retirement-planning business and bulking up the public-affairs department is a noteworthy accomplishment of his incumbency.
Welch, 67, a Detroit native and former head of the California New Car Dealers Association, said his successor — NADA COO Mike Stanton — will be "more than ready to take the reins on Jan. 1."
He spoke with Staff Reporter Audrey LaForest about his nearly eight-year tenure as NADA's chief executive and what comesnext. Here are edited excerpts.
Q: How have you evolved as a leader?
A: I've certainly gotten broader shoulders. You develop in this job the ability to take on and manage more and more complex problems without getting bogged down in minutiae.
How has NADA evolved under your leadership?
When I showed up eight years ago, it had gotten a little bit long in the tooth. I spent a good amount of my time over the last eight years trying to update and modernize it.
Describe what it's been like to lead NADA through the COVID- 19 crisis.
It certainly wasn't the way I thought I was going to end my career at NADA, but I haven't done anything that's been unique that other CEOs haven't faced through the crisis. The association business and the car business are two very personal businesses — personal relationships and networking with politicians, regulatory officials and, of course, the OEMs. It's been OK maintaining those relationships virtually, but it's really difficult to create a new personal relationship virtually. I'm just incredibly complimentary about our staff. It's been a challenge, but we've weathered through it.
What should be top of mind for franchised dealers during this time of uncertainty?
Stay the course. They — and we — have developed a pretty good playbook on how to run a safe business in a pandemic. We've put out a number of publications. We've been interacting with not only federal and state but local governments, including health officials who have the ability to close dealerships. Early on, both from a federal level and from a state level, they recognized that dealerships were critical infrastructure providers. Everybody and their brother is out buying a car who used to take Ubers or public transportation. Governments have realized they need to keep the dealerships open, and obviously the service departments are even more crucial, so we've learned how to do it in a safe way.
Aside from the pandemic, what is the biggest challenge you've faced as CEO?
There were many challenges. Probably when I walked in the door, the biggest challenge was to just change the ethos at NADA. There was a lot of, "This is the way we've always done it" kind of a thing, and I was the first outsider that they'd brought in for quite a while and was able to have challenged lots of things — challenge how we did business, why we did it the way we did it and maybe brought a new perspective to it. Changing the inner core of it was probably pretty tough, but they received it well and they responded very well.
How has auto retailing changed?
Most of the changes have been evolutionary, not revolutionary. Dealers are remarkable retailers and one of their biggest skills is adapting to change. The biggest change I've seen is, quite frankly, the new marketing tools that simply didn't exist even eight years ago. Just eight years ago, dealers were blindly buying newspaper ads, TV and cable buys, hoping that their message would reach their customer base. Now, through digital tools, social media channels and even an increasing use of artificial intelligence, dealers can precisely target their customer base much more accurately, provide them with the kind of information they need and do it in the most cost-effective way.
What concerns do you have for auto retailing?
Affordability is still a primary concern. But interestingly enough, once the cost of electric batteries comes down to $50 per kilowatt hour or less, vehicles should become much more affordable to buy and to operate because they have fewer parts and require less maintenance. That could be a silver lining of electrification and lead to a whole new era of affordability for consumers. As for concerns about auto retailing, all I can say is where there's demand, there will always be the need for retailers and service departments.
What's first on your retirement to-do list?
My wife and I bought a piece of property outside of Nashville, and we're renovating an old farmhouse down there. That project should keep me busy for quite a while, including on day one, I think.
What's the "last word" as NADA CEO for your 16,000-plus members and our readers?
That's a tough question and maybe you get a little reflective when you've been in the business for as long as I have. But everybody in our business is usually too busy to stop and think about what an incredible business we're actually in. I guess what I'd say is take a moment to think about it, and have more fun while you can.
