UsedCarNews.com
March 5, 2018
Auction Veteran Leads Independent Group By Jeffrey Bellant
Rush - Dated Material
Auction industry veteran Lynn Weaver will focus on policy initiatives and other issues for the Independent Auction Group as its new executive director. The new position marks the next phase in Weaver’s career as well as a more active role for the IAG. Weaver, who recently retired from America’s Auto Auction – Harrisburg, had been a partner and then owner of the sale before selling it to America’s Auto Auction in 2014. He remained as general manager until January of this year. Now his son, Clint, manages the sale. Prior to the restructuring of IAG, Weaver served as volunteer cochair of the group and also sits on NAAA’s Membership and PAC committees. “I’ve been chairman and then cochair with Charlotte Pyle and David Blake for about the past ive years,” Weaver said. Originally known as the Independent Auctions Advisory Committee, the IAG was established in the mid1980s to promote independent auctions. “We came to realize that the industry was changing and we were changing,” Weaver said. “This (group) needed the attention from someone who would get up in the morning thinking about the independent group. “We didn’t want to (keep) it as a volunteer-type of position that we would only worry about when a convention or meeting came up.” He said companies like Manheim and ADESA already have stafers in corporate positions dedicated to policy and other issues within the NAAA and outside it. While the IAG committee tried to do the same work, it was diicult to do without a position dedicated to that job.
“We just weren’t getting the job done,” Weaver said. “We needed to change from a PR-type organization to a more policy-driven organization. “We needed a point person, a liaison to the national association and to the industry.” He said the industry could be broken into three groups – ADESA and Manheim, with the third leg being “everyone else.” That would include the traditional independents, ServNet, America’s Auto Auction, Xlerate, Dealer’s Auto Auctions and family owned groups like McConkey Auction Group and the auctions owned by Joe and Charlotte Pyle, for example. Weaver said the interesting challenge is that his new position will be “ever-changing” because of all the issues and initiatives that come up along with the evolution of technology. Weaver said the group remains within the National Auto Auction Association. “We want to work closely with the NAAA while reaching out to the independents; making sure they are involved in everything and being communicated to properly,” Weaver said. “Right now, the issue of safety is probably the No. 1 issue or part of the top three industry issues.” The deadly accident at Lynnway Auto Auction a year ago made the issue the center of discussion. “The problem is you can’t have a one-size-its-all policy,” Weaver said. “(Auctions) have diferent sizes, diferent facilities and diferent structures, so we deinitely have to igure out better ways to address that.” Weaver said IAG has created a group of committee representatives to “be our eyes and ears.” on certain issues. Continued on page 12
Photo by Jeffrey Bellant INDEPENDENCE DAY: Lynn Weaver, shown receiving an award at a past auto conference, has taken on a new post as executive director of the Independent Auction Group.
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