New Jersey Auto Dealer to Serve As AIADA Chairman
ALEXANDRIA, Va. – The American International Automobile Dealers Association has named Mike DeSilva as its 2023 chairman. DeSilva, who is the co-owner of Liberty Auto Group in northern New Jersey, accepted the chairman’s gavel during an AIADA event in Dallas.
“As a second-generation international nameplate dealer, I’ve seen personally how important it is to work with AIADA to protect my stores, employees and customers,” says DeSilva. “Advocating in D.C. to preserve global trade and maintain a level playing field on which all dealers can compete is vital to our future, and a mission worth fighting for.”
DeSilva’s father, Rick DeSilva, served as AIADA chairman in 2010.
DeSilva grew up working in his family’s Subaru dealership and has said that as AIADA chairman he wants to focus on building and maintaining dealer-lawmaker relationships on Capitol Hill.
“Our legislators need to acknowledge and celebrate the investment the international nameplate auto industry has made in America,” he told AIADA members. “We’ve been here for multiple generations, creating jobs, paying taxes, and building and selling the vehicles Americans want to drive. We’re not going anywhere.”
DeSilva is joined as an AIADA officer by John Connelly, immediate past chairman (Dublin, Ohio); Anthony Brownlee, chairman-elect (Denver); Valerie Romero, secretary/treasurer (Ontario, California); and Cody Lusk, AIADA president and CEO (Arlington, Virginia).
AIADA membership consists of 9,383 dealers who employ over 543,000 Americans.
Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
