York nominated for TIME Dealer of the Year

Jerry York
    HOULTON — Jerry York, co-owner of York’s of Houlton, a Ford and Toyota dealership in Houlton, has been nominated for the 2013 TIME Dealer of the Year award. The nomination was announced Monday.
    York is one of a select group of 57 dealer nominees from across the country who will be honored at the 96th annual National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) Convention & Exposition in Orlando, Fla., on Feb. 9, 2013. The announcement of this year’s nominees was made by Todd Larsen, executive vice president and group president, Time Inc. News and Sports, and Tim Russi, executive vice president, North American Auto Operations, for Ally Financial.
    “Auto dealers play such an important role in the strength of local communities across the United States,” said Russi. “They are involved in many philanthropic endeavors, contributing their time and money to improving the lives of people in need. Ally is proud to support and honor these extraordinary dealers and the important roles they play in making their communities better places to live and work,” added Russi.
    In its second year as exclusive sponsor, Ally will recognize dealer nominees and their community efforts by contributing $1,000 to each nominee’s charity of choice. Nominees will also be recognized on the recently launched website, AllyDealerHeroes.com, which highlights the philanthropic contributions and achievements of auto dealers across the U.S.
    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. York, 60, was chosen to represent the Maine Automobile Dealers Association in the national competition – one of only 57 auto dealers from 17,000 nationwide – nominated for the 44th annual award. The award is sponsored by TIME in association with Ally Financial, and in cooperation with NADA. A panel of faculty members from the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan will select one finalist from each of the four NADA regions and one national Dealer of the Year.
    “The most rewarding aspect of having been in the car business for the past 37 years is seeing employees of the dealership grow into different and more challenging positions within the dealership,” York said. “Most of our key people started at entry-level positions and learned to become effective managers.”
    York graduated from Houlton High School in Houlton, in 1970, and earned a bachelor’s degree in business management from the University of Maine in Orono in 1975, where he was a member of Phi Eta Kappa fraternity. That same year, he entered the family business, which was founded by his father in 1968 after he purchased the county’s first Ford dealership, Ralph L. Berry Co., and named it York Ford Sales.
    York’s of Houlton’s facility expanded and renovated in 2008.
    “I joined my father, Gerard, and my brother, Dick, in 1975 and the rest is history,” York said. His nephew also works for the company.
    York’s of Houlton was named Business of the Year in 2010 by the Greater Houlton Chamber of Commerce and has won the Toyota President’s Award in 2009. In the area of community service, York served as a board member of Houlton Regional Hospital from 2002 to 2012, serving as its chairman from 2009 to 2011.
    His most meaningful civic accomplishment is working as a board member and chairman of the fundraising committee for the Houlton High School Alumni Association, where he has contributed his leadership skills since 2004. “We have awarded more than $300,000 in scholarships in the past eight years and have an endowment fund of nearly $700,000,” York said.
    York was nominated for the TIME Dealer of the Year Award by Tom Brown, president of the Maine Automobile Dealers Association. He and his wife, Jane, have three children.