Tier One Executive Search Names North American Automotive Retail Practice Leader

December 18, 2019 – In the world of mobility, organizations that develop and produce automotive vehicles, components and related technologies that move people, goods and materials face unprecedented competition from established players and new entrants. Accelerating electrification of vehicles, autonomous vehicle innovation and entirely new value propositions centered on connectivity require that organizations rethink their approach to leadership and culture, say top recruiters. The courage and vision to innovate, collaborate and put customers first will be critical.

That said, Detroit, MI-headquartered Tier One Executive Search has appointed Elliott Duda as director and leader for the North American automotive retail practice. “Elliott has done such a great job for us on the manufacturing side and this is a natural step for him,” said Mark Thibodeau, senior partner.

Tier One Executive Search has focused on the automotive and manufacturing sectors for 20 years. In recent years, the firm has pushed to grow the dealership/retail side of the business to become over 30 percent of the overall revenues.

The practice focuses on helping large dealership groups and independent owners solve critical talent gap problems that are a result of turnover, natural attrition, succession issues, or underperforming teams or team members. Specifically, the retail practice seeks out, attracts, and secures talent at the dealership group corporate level and store level within general management, sales and fixed operations.

“It’s an exciting practice area focused on the niche area of selling vehicles and related aftermarket and replacement parts, but with a lot of variety,” said Mr. Duda. “In any given week, we might be in the middle of searching for a CFO or COO for a 100-store dealer group, and in the middle of searches for a store general manager, pre-owned manager, service manager and sales professional.”

Automotive Focused

Tier One’s clients include dealership groups both large and small that sell import and domestic vehicles. The firm has a vast network of retail professionals that help it stay on the cutting edge of the industry and quickly find the best individuals for its clients’ hiring needs. Tier One also helps its manufacturing clients to handle searches in the areas of sales, marketing, quality, finance, purchasing, legal, engineering, HR and the C-suite on a global basis. The firm has offices in Detroit, Canada, Shanghai and Mexico. Its clients include automotive, aerospace and industrial manufacturing organizations.

Earlier this year, Tier One expanded its dealership recruitment practice in the U.S. and Canada. “People have always known us for the manufacturing side of our business, but we have also recruited for passenger car, recreation vehicle, off-highway equipment, and heavy vehicle retail operations for many years,” said Mr. Thibodeau. “Our focus in the next 12 months will be to grow our client base within the top 150 dealership groups in the passenger car segment.”

“We have taken steps to see that our retail practice grows to 30 percent of our overall revenues by 2020 – right now we are less than 15 percent on the dealership side,” said Aynk Murtty, director of business development for Tier One. “We have always been process driven and our recruitment process is the same, robust process for both the retail and the manufacturing side of our business. The key thing is that we are able to consistently deliver talent that has a positive impact on our client companies.”

Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief; Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor; and Stephen Sawicki, Managing Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media

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