Collision industry activist Toby Chess, left, receives the ABRN Leadership Award from ABRN Editor in Chief Tim Sramcik during
the CIC Achievement Awards ceremony in Las Vegas.(Photo by John Yoswick)
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LAS VEGAS – For the second straight year collision industry activist Toby Chess received the ABRN Leadership Award, an honor that took place during the Collision Industry Conference (CIC) Collision Industry Achievement
Awards ceremony in Las Vegas Nov. 4.
Chess is known for his passion for the collision repair industry, for training collision repairers, for his deep technical
knowledge and willingness to do the right thing for repairers.
"Toby walks the walk and volunteers a tremendous amount of his time getting shops up to speed on the latest vehicle and repair
technologies, such as high-strength steel and hybrid vehicle repair," says Tim Sramcik, editor in chief of ABRN, who presented the award to Chess. "Nobody in the industry has been a bigger advocate for training in these areas than Toby.
He is tireless."
Chess travels often to shops and other training venues to demonstrate correct repair procedures of high-strength steel. He
is known for adding his own hands-on elements to training programs because he said repairers retain more knowledge when they
work on a repair rather than read about it or see somebody else do it. He is active in CIC providing technical demonstrations.
Earlier this year, he worked with local firefighters at the I-CAR meeting in Scottsdale, Ariz., to demonstrate how to use
the jaws-of-life on vehicles containing high-strength steel. He's also active helping to raise money for the March Taylor Memorial Fund, which promotes educational opportunities for technicians
throughout the collision repair industry. He was instrumental in promoting the silent auction at CIC that raised money for
the fund.
Chess was caught off-guard by the honor. So much so that Chess, a regular at CIC events, was talking in the hall outside the
awards ceremony to John Edelen, I-CAR's president and chief executive officer, when the announcement was made.He had to be
summoned into the lunchtime ceremony to receive the award and be recognized.
"I walked through the door and saw my name up for the Leadership Award and my mouth dropped open," Chess says. "It is quite
an honor and I appreciate it very much. I was sort of speechless again. It never dawned on me that I would receive the award.
"When you look at the awards given out, the industry has been very supportive of me," Chess says. "I had a half dozen phone
calls after the news was put up on the Web site. There are so many other people in the industry who deserve this type of award
and need to be recognized."
Another highlight of the presentation was the March Taylor Technician ACE Award, one of two Achievement in Collision Repair
Excellence awards from VeriFacts Automotive. Presented by the late March Taylor's daughter, Tiffany, who works in the family's
business, Auto Body Hawaii, it was an emotional moment for attendees as she described her father's legacy and how much the
honor means to her before presenting the award to Gustavo Marquez of Caliber Collision, Fresno, Calif.
The 2008 Collision Industry Achievement Award recipients are:- Auto Body Repair News 2008 Industry Leadership Award: Toby Chess, Los Angeles.
- Fix Auto National Customer Service Index Champions, Portland, Ore.: Fix Auto Group: Shon Kim, Gil Messenger, Terry Mostul, Debbi Mostul, Skylar Schacht, Abbas Nikzad, and Ron Warman.
- 2008 Collision Industry Electronic Commerce Association Outstanding Contribution: Deathe Davis, APU Solutions, Olathe, Kan.; Outstanding Dedication: Kathy Goddard, Safelite Solutions LLC, Columbus, Ohio;
Outstanding Leadership: Al Tate, Salvage Direct, York, Pa.; Lifetime Achievement: David Meiser, State Farm, Kissimmee, Fla.
- CSi Complete Clearly Elite Award: Steve Seidner, Seidner's Collision Centers, Glendora, Calif.
- AASP/ASA/SCRS Outstanding Contribution Award: Mike Anderson, Wagonwork Collision, Alexandria, Va.
- VeriFacts Automotive VeriFacts Repair Center ACE Award: Bill Park, Big Sky Auto Body, Palo Verde, Tucson, Ariz.; VeriFacts March Taylor Technician ACE Award: Gustavo Marquez, Caliber
Collision, Fresno, Calif.
- Collision Industry "Quiet" Award: Ron Reichen, Precision Collision, Beaverton, Ore.
- NABC Pride Award: James Phillip Tanner, Irmo High School, Columbia, S.C.; Mervyn A. Campbell, Centennial Auto Body, Roosevelt, N.Y.; Joseph
Sanfillipo III, USA Collision Centers, Cincinnati, Ohio; Richard Gabianelli, John Kurze, Gabby's Auto Body, Gene Scheithe,
Ricardo Perez, Mark Pellino, Gene's Auto Body, Seymour, Conn.
