NAMAD Sessions

Most dealers sell cars. Brian Ortega sells stories. Most dealers run ads. Brian Ortega makes blockbusters. As Creative Director of Valley Hi Toyota and Kia, he’s turned his stores into content machines — from spoofing summer action movies to creating A...

Some innovations fuel growth. Others expose you to risk you never signed up for. Tyler Raquet, President & COO of Mosaic Compliance Services, joins from NAMAD 2025 to break down the blind spots in AI adoption for dealers. As ChatGPT and other tools mak...

What if cutting 31% of your ad spend didn’t cost you a single sale? After 24 years in automotive—from parts to BMW retail to corporate at Asbury and Dealertrack—DJ Sardana has one obsession: results you can prove. As a senior leader at C-4 Analytics, h...

Support is powerful. Shared experience is transformative. After 25 years in automotive, Martha Alvarado knows the highs, the doubts, and the resilience it takes to keep going. From her start as a BDC rep to leading internet teams, she’s built a career ...

Your car knows more about you than you think—home address, emails, contact list, even your garage code. And most of that data stays behind when you trade it in. Ron Wheeler spent 31 years on the retail side before moving into wholesale and technology. ...

Some customers want to sign in-store. Others want to finish at home. Your F&I has to do both—without breaking. At NAMAD, Mike Sims (VP, Peak Performance Team) and Charlie Smith (Virtual F&I) explain how dealers are collapsing wait times and boosting PV...

Recognition is powerful. Responsibility is greater. Here’s how two WOCAN Members of the Year are scaling both. Two winners. One mission. Mabel Peralta (2024) and Stephanie Wedgeworth (2025) sit down to unpack what the WOCAN Member of the Year “crown” r...

Most dealers wait until it’s too late to call their lawyer. Courtney Leyes and LaKisha Kinsey-Sallis explain why that mistake is costing millions — and how the real secret to protecting your dealership isn’t contracts, it’s people. Lawsuits don’t usual...

Glenn Lundy has built his career on one question: where’s the puck going? At NAMAD 2025, Glenn sat down to talk about the pace of change in auto—faster and more volatile than anything he’s seen since 1999. But he didn’t stop at AI, tariffs, or OEM stra...

Some dealers see idle fleets. Others see untapped goldmines. Aaron Klimchuk has sat on nearly every side of the automotive business — retail, OEM, and now the vendor seat at Dealerware. That breadth of experience gives him a unique perspective on one o...

Some titles come with a paycheck. Others come with a calling. When Ashley Cavazos accepted the role of President of WOCAN and Jessica Smith stepped in as Vice President, it wasn’t just a leadership shuffle — it was a moment years in the making. What st...

Price matters—but trust sells the car. Most customers don’t just want the lowest price—they want to feel confident in one of the biggest purchases of their lives. Lauren Moriarty has spent her career proving that transparency isn’t a risk; it’s a reven...

She started in CSI call centers. Now Jamila VanDeviver helps dealers predict customer behavior before it happens. For most dealers, the biggest risk isn’t competition down the street — it’s losing the customers they already have. Jamila VanDeviver, Dir...

Marketing gets people in the door. Retention keeps the lights on. Here’s why dealers miss that connection. Marc Bland sits at the intersection of data and decision-making for the world’s biggest automakers. As VP of New Business Development & Growth Ma...

Dealers love talking about digital transformation—but most are still breaking customer trust the moment shoppers walk in the door. Brian Kramer has been on both sides of the desk—retail operator and now EVP at Cars Commerce. That’s why he sees the gap ...

Everyone dreams of owning a store. Few understand what it really takes. Most people in automotive talk about growth in units or revenue. Gerrick Wilkins talks in terms of entire dealerships. After 20+ years running stores himself, Gerrick now leads Ome...

In an industry obsessed with incentives, Jim Colon and Perry Watson III proved that culture, reputation, and trust can outlast any holiday sale. Most dealers talk about changing culture. Jim Colon and Perry Watson III actually did it. At Marysville Toy...

What if dealers could finally compete with Carvana and CarMax for used car inventory — using the same tools they’ve been losing to for years? Frank Knox has lived every angle of the used car business: from buying thousands of vehicles a week at CarMax,...

Most AI in automotive feels like hype. Mia isn’t. In this episode, Scott Traylor and Thuy Adomitis share how a dealer’s frustration with bottlenecks became a platform that unifies calls, texts, chat, and email into a single record — and answers in unde...

What if losing your job was the very thing that unlocked your true career? Julie Tabarejo didn’t plan to end up in automotive. Born and raised in Hawaii, she built a career in travel, media, and marketing—until COVID shut down the island’s tourism econ...

The last time tariffs hit like this, it ended in the Great Depression. Could history repeat itself? Jonathan Smoke has lived through enough economic cycles to know when the ground is shifting — and right now, the auto industry is sitting on 7 million u...

What if turning down fame was the only way to save your business? Patrice Banks knows, because she lived it. At the height of her media moment, Patrice Banks was on magazine covers, morning shows, and even shooting a Hollywood pilot—then a mentor hit h...

Perry Watson IV is leading NAMAD into a new era. As president, he’s not only breaking attendance records but redefining what it means to create a space where minority dealers, OEMs, and industry leaders come together with trust, urgency, and family at ...

Hit that subscribe button, because Paul J Daly and Erroll Bomar III will be heading to the 2025 NAMAD Annual Meeting in Las Vegas to host the NAMAD Sessions by Mia, interviewing some of the most forward thinking operators, industry partners and OEM rep...