Name City, State Nominated by Connecticut Automotive Retailers Association Emily Marlow Beck Front Royal, Virginia Nominated by Virginia Automobile Dealers Association 2026 Dealer of the Year Award Virginia’s Emily Marlow Beck, president of Marlow Motor Company, was nominated for the 2026 TIME Dealer of the Year award late last year. She is the first woman to be named Virginia’s nominee since 1998. Beck is part of a select group of 47 dealer nominees from across the country who were honored at the 109th annual National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) Show in Las Vegas on Feb. 5. The TIME Dealer of the Year award is one of the automobile industry’s most prestigious and highly coveted honors. The program recognizes the nation’s most successful auto dealers who also demonstrate a long-standing commitment to community service. Beck was chosen to represent the Virginia Automobile Dealers Association in the national competition, now in its 57th year. CONTINUING THE FAMILY BUSINESS Beck leads Marlow Motor Company, a family business founded in 1947 that represents Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley. After earning a B.A. from the University of Virginia (1999) and a J.D. from American University Washington College of Law (2002), she built a legal career focused on automotive compliance at Hudson Cook LLP before returning home in 2010 to join — and soon lead — the dealership. Shortly after returning home, her father suffered a heart attack and quintuple bypass, accelerating a leadership transition that she navigated with transparency, resilience and a focus on culture. “I grew up learning about the car business from my father, who passed away last year,” Beck said. “My first dealership job was in the parts department when I was in middle school,” and after an unexpected setback upon law school graduation, “my father… simply said, ‘You can always sell cars for me. Welcome to the corporate world. If you can get yourself out of this, you can get yourself out of anything.’” Beck then relied on her dealership experience to begin practicing law in the automotive space. “Looking back, I believe that my father gave me the greatest gift by not rescuing me when I lost my ‘big firm’ job,” she said. GROWTH AND INNOVATION Under her direction, Marlow Motor Company has invested in future-ready operations, including EV infrastructure upgrades and expanding heavy-duty/ service capacity to better support business and fleet customers. “Our store is a more rural store,” she noted. “Because we do a lot of fleet services with business, we have added lifts to increase our capacity to service business customers.” Emily Beck, Virginia’s 2026 TIME Dealer of the Year Nominee Front Royal Dealer Recognized for Community Service and Industry Achievement 6 Virginia Auto Dealer
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