NIADA’s New CEO Aims to Serve Members

By Jeffrey Bellant

Jeff Martin, the new chief executive officer of the National Independent Automobile Dealers Association, wants the organization to better serve the needs of its members.

It’s something he’s learned to do over a long career serving membership organizations, including 16 years as executive director of the Texas Independent Automobile Dealers Association (TIADA).

“I grew up in Texas and lived here all my life,” he said. That’s one less adjustment for him since NIADA is based in Irving, Texas.

Martin attended Tarleton State University in Stephenville, Texas, studying speech communication.

“Almost immediately out of college, I got a job with the Association of Texas Professional Educators (ATPA) as a field representative,” he said.

His job was to travel across the state to tout the benefits of membership in the group.

“That was my first foot in the door of the association world,” Martin said.

He eventually became director of membership and also did consulting for other associations, one of those included the Texas IADA. In 2006, after a couple of meetings, its then-executive director told Martin he was planning to retire and pitched Martin as his replacement. The TIADA board made an offer and Martin was hired.

When he took over, Martin used the ATPA’s blueprint of building local chapters to support the larger organization. The challenge was that rounding up school teachers was easier since he could schedule a meeting at a local school and all the teachers in that district knew the school and would come.

To meet or recruit new dealermembers for TIADA, Martin had to essentially go to the auctions. Eventually, at its peak there were about nine chapters, though that model has changed since the growth of online media.

“There was more of a need to get together and share information (in person) back then,” he said. “Now you can share information in the click of one button with an email.” Martin said he was blessed with strong leaders at TIADA.

“One of the things that was unique in Texas was the quality of the dealers who actively got involved in the association,” Martin said. “It didn’t take long for us to attract and

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