Pub 9 2021-2022 Issue 1

11 Summer 2021 can cut your way into staying af loat, but you can’t cut your way into a profit. It is hard to grow when you are making cuts all the time. All dealers who were around in 2008-2009 learned these lessons. It’s important to operate a lean organization. That way, you can make quick decisions and deploy staff as necessary. During the Great Recession, we may not have reacted quickly enough, but we pivoted very quickly during the shutdown recession. First, we decided to operate the stores per the stay-at-home orders, and we cut a lot of staff. It was the right decision at the time. Then, when we saw the pandemic might not be bad from a business perspective, we brought the majority of the staff back quickly and made sure they were comfortable. We were methodical in our advertising approaches, and we also made sure we had inventory that people were looking for. Since we rebounded very quickly, we were very successful last year and this year. What are the big issues for California dealers in the next 5-10 years? I have a thousand of them. The biggest issue that we deal with is wage-and-hour employment litigation and PAGA concerns. Dealing with the intricacies of California employment law is difficult and time-consuming. California is not super business-friendly, and it takes a lot of mental and physical energy to deal with that. There’s a divergence between California’s environmental needs and consumer needs. State leadership wants to be on the cutting edge of electrification and infrastructure, but consumers don’t want a pure-electric system yet. That divergence is going to be a significant challenge for the automotive industry going forward. California is having a tough time keeping household lights on. Although California’s leaders want all new sales to be pure electric by 2035, the infrastructure requirements to meet that goal are astronomical. The whole thing has become a really big challenge for us. That said, electric vehicles fill the needs of a small but growing portion of the consumers out there. As a retailer, we are happy to sell whatever vehicles consumers want, and we are excited about new products in the market. Companies like Tesla are hard to talk about because they are not part of the franchise system. Tesla, in particular, is a worry among franchise dealers because Tesla is selling a lot of cars, but the hope is that the state will be a strong franchise protector. It’s going to be interesting to watch daily. What are your goals as an incoming GLANCDA board member and director? GLANCDA is very important. The south Los Angeles area used to have an association called the Southland Motor Car During the Great Recession, we may not have reacted quickly enough, but we pivoted very quickly during the shutdown recession Dealers Association that was disbanded a couple of years ago. The South Los Angeles area retails 50,000-plus cars a year, and we carry 21 brands in the auto square. I want to give our area a voice in the association. We also have an employee shortage. I want to help fill the gap in training future employees of dealerships. Cerritos College has a technological training center that can help accomplish that goal. How will your past experiences help you? I have been on many boards in the past. The board has a responsibility to promote the interests of all the members and employees who work for us. For example, we need to make sure we have properly trained technicians. We also need to work with legislative partners to educate them on the challenges of the dealership business and the challenges of being an employer in California. Are you still interested in cycling? How many miles per week do you ride? I rode this morning. In general, I ride 100-150 miles per week. It’s good for the body and mind, and I also enjoy the fellowship. I have a lot of good friends who cycle. We don’t have a lot of biking trails, but we have lots of bike lanes. I ride with a group whose goal is to keep everyone safe. Do you have other hobbies? What do you do for fun? I am still an avid golfer, but the most fun I have is spending time with my two boys and my fiancé, Yuliya (pronounced like Julia with a Y). She is a recent U.S. citizen of Russian descent. It took her almost nine years to become a citizen, and she worked really hard to be able to do it. We’ve been together for 3.5 years. What about the rest of your family? You already know about my brother Peter, but I have a younger sister with three children. She is a partner in a law firm in New York. I also have three half-sisters. My brother- in-law is the general manager of Mazda in Cerritos (he is the husband of one of my half-sisters). But other than my brother and my brother-in-law, that’s it. 