Our People - In The Spotlight

Lou McCoy
Claudia K
David Rettew
Keith Harry
Steve Sanders
Nicole Gentile Kay

Lou McCoy - Field Operations Manager

As Field Operations Manager, Lou McCoy brings more than 30 years of experience in the automotive industry to Randy Shepard and Associates Inc.

A graduate of Marshall University, Lou received his B.S. In Business Management in 1974. McCoy has broad based experience in many fields, he has previously worked as a mechanic, a department store manager and owned his own small business. As well, Lou served as a Sergeant and Communications Section chief in the United States Army.

More recently, and for over 30 years, Lou McCoy worked for Ford Motor Company in various divisions and fields. These include, but are not limited to:

• Parts and Service Zone Manager
• Eastern Regional Warranty Consultant/Auditor
• Parts and Service Development Manager
• Owner Relations Manager
• Field Service Manager
• Dealer Operations Manager
• Fixed Operations Manager for Rochester Auto Collection
• District Manager
• Global Warranty Operations Eastern Regional Team Leader

As a Global Warranty Team Leader, McCoy's position included the following responsibilities:

• Management of 12 Warranty Consultants and/or Auditors
• Monitoring more than 1.2 Billion Dollars in Warranty Expenses
• Worked with FCSD Regions in Eastern Canada, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Atlanta and Florida
• Determined Dealer entry into and progression within the Global Warranty Counseling Process (based on Warranty Trend Analysis)

McCoy has also completed the ATCON Parts and Service Administration program, which includes training in the following:

• Advanced Service Marketing
• Advanced Production Service
• Advanced Financial's for Service Department (Seven Controllable's)
• The Employment Process (from Hiring to Firing)

As Field Operations Manager for Randy Shepard and Associates, Inc., Lou will be working on developing the MAP program and implementing it in dealerships nationwide. McCoy's position will allow him to work with MAP account dealers to provide regularly scheduled dealership contacts and to provide MAP dealers with Warranty Report analysis to identify critical issues driving over standard performance and to review overall dealership service operations with MAP dealers. Lou will also be using his extensive knowledge and experience in the recruitment, training and development of Regional Area Managers for the implementation of RS&A Inc's. Managed Account Program (MAP) and to provide MAP dealers with on-the-job warranty training for dealership personnel..

Claudia K - Regional Accounts Manager

Claudia K brings decades of experience in the corporate and retail sales world to Randy Shepard & Associates. Having worked in the Fixed Operations realm for Ford, she is well known for her technical and problem solving abilities.

Claudia's last assignment was with Ford's Global Warranty Operations. Over 99% of the dealerships she visited never progressed to the Audit stage. People who know Claudia, cite her ability to determine the root cause of problems and the solutions expeditiously in multiple areas of concern. She has received a wide range of training in multiple topics including 6.0L and 6.4L courses.

Some of you may recognize Claudia, having seen her along with championship winning, Ford sponsored, NHRA and NASCAR teams.

Retail Vehicle Experience (5 years)

• New Car Sales
• Used Car Sales Manager
• Finance and Insurance Management

Ford Motor Experience (30 years)

• Customer Relations
• Motorcraft Sales and Marketing
• Service Zone Manager
• Parts Zone Manager
• Warranty Consultant

David Rettew - Regional Accounts Manager

David Rettew brings 35 years of experience with Ford Motor Company to his association with Randy Shepard & Associates.

After graduating from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, David served a tour of duty with the U.S. Army. He began working for Ford Motor Company in 1971 in the Customer Service Division. The different positions in which he served include:

• Parts & Service Zone Manager
• Office Operations Manager
• Dealer Operations Manager
• Market Area Specialist
• Warranty Consultant for Global Warranty Operations

The last few years of his tenure with Ford, David served as a Warranty Counselor and Auditor, working with dealerships in the Carolinas, Virginia, Georgia and Tennessee.

David has incorporated his own business to provide counseling to dealerships in order to improve customer handling and warranty compliance.

David has always prized his relationships with people in the dealerships he has served. He is most effective in building on these relationships to help dealerships effect positive change in both their shop operations and customer handling.

Keith D. Harry - Regional Accounts Manager

Ford Dealer Experience: 1974 - 1980 (full and part time positions)

Glamore Motor Sales (Smithtown Ford) : Main Street, Smithtown, New York

• Parts Receiver / Rear Counter Inventory
• Inventory Clerk
• Shop Counterman
• Parts Counterman - Class A, B, C

Ford Corporate Experience: 1980 - 2007

• Owner Relations Analyst
• Parts Zone Manager
• Independent Channel Zone Manager (Motorcraft)
• Service Zone Manager - Class A, B, C
• Tempo/Topaz, Taurus/Sable, Aerostar Technical Specialist (DSE)
• Reacquired Vehicle Specialist
• Parts Training Merchandising Specialist
• Heavy Truck Parts Specialist
• Heavy Truck Engineer
• Commercial Vehicle Operations, Heavy Truck Field Manager
• Heavy Truck Parts and Service Specialist
• North American Fleet Service, Commercial Area Field Manager
• Global Warranty Operations Warranty Consultant

Steve Sanders - Regional Accounts Manager

Steve is our representative for dealers in Virginia, the DC Metro area and Florida. He brings over 20 years of FCSD contact experience with dealers throughout the US East Coast . The majority of the last 11 years were spent doing warranty reviews and audits but Steve was also recently the FCSD Zone Manager for the Tidewater Virginia Ford and Lincoln-Mercury. Prior to that, Steve called upon nearly every Florida Ford and Lincoln dealer as well as Motorcraft Warehouse Distributor during the period 1986 through 1995.

Those of you who received warranty-related contacts from Steve can attest to the effectiveness of his 126 report analysis, his ability to pinpoint specific problem areas through claims review analysis , his skill in conducting technician shop meetings to explain and gain support for Ford policies that need to be enforced and , most importantly , working with dealer management to ensure proper corrective action was taken. Steve's work and education experience is summarized below.

Education

• 1984 - 1985, MBA The Ohio State University , Columbus, Ohio , Finance Major, Statistics Minor
• 1972 - 1977, BBA The University of Notre Dame, South Bend, Indiana. Marketing Major

Work Experience

• 1986 - 2007, Retired from Ford Motor Company - Warranty Specialist with Global Warranty Operations for 10 years from 1995-2003 and again 2005-2007 . Parts & Service Zone Manager and Aftermarket Account ( Motorcraft ) Manager with FCSD Orlando from 1986-1995 and Zone Manager with FCSD Washington from 2003-2005.
• 1984 - 1995, US Navy Reserves - Retired as a Commander - Reserve assignments as Executive Officer of a Hydrofoil Squadron in Key West and a Navy Control Shipping Office ( supervise convoy preparation of civilian merchant shipping ) in Miami and Jacksonville.
• 1977 - 1984, US Navy Active Duty - Qualified Surface Warfare Officer and Tactical Action Officer - completed three overseas deployments on an aircraft carrier and two destroyers. Specialty was anti-submarine warfare. Also served a shore tour as Enlisted Programs Officer for the State of Michigan where I was in charge of 153 recruiters and the NROTC Scholarship Program.

Nicole Gentile Kay - Regional Accounts Manager

Nicole Kay is our representative in the Northwest, however she works with dealers throughout the country. She brings over a decade of experience with Ford Motor Company to her association with Randy Shepard & Associates.

As a Warranty Consultant within Global Warranty Operations, Nicole was consistently recognized by Ford Motor Company and Dealers as a high performing employee. This position required working with dealerships in a consultant role with a focus on identifying the root cause of warranty related issues and training the dealership personnel to assist them in exiting out of the Warranty Counseling Process.

In addition to completing Warranty Reviews (Steps 2 and 3 of Ford’s former Five-Step Process); Nicole also planned, coordinated and conducted dozens of training seminars for dealership Service Management.

"The class was presented by Nicole Gentile and I just want to go on record as stating that Nicole did an amazing job with her presentation. I have been attending different seminars since 1969, and this is one the first seminars that I found exciting as well as extremely informative... Ford Motor Co. should consider themselves very fortunate to have such an individual in their employ."
– Dwight H. Olsen, Service Manager of Bozeman Ford

This training primarily focused on empowering dealership personnel through education by gaining a better understanding of the Warranty Trend Report and implementing processes to regulate warranty cost.

Nicole continues to strive to provide Dealers the very best service possible today as she operates her own consulting firm, Automotive Warranty Diagnostics, which works in conjunction with Randy Shepard and Associates. In her new role, she draws on her experience to provide the same level of service for the analysis of warranty claims and the training of Service Personnel. Dealership Management is provided with a detailed action plan to target warranty issues and she will work diligently with the entire service team to correct all of the identified issues.