Hugene Fields, President, NAMAD

Kyle Mountsier: 0:00This is In the Dirt with ASOTU.

‍Paul Daly: 0:05

All right, so we're here at the NAMAD annual meeting. I am with the shiny new president to be Hugene Fields. Thanks for spending a few minutes with me today.

Hugene Fields: 0:12

Absolutely. Thanks for having me.

Paul Daly: 0:14

I gotta get it out. Your name is Hugene with an H huge union with a not Eugene with an E. There you go. I know people probably mistake that all the time, all the time. But you seem like a pretty gracious person. So it's probably easy to to just keep rolling you absolutely. Alright. So last night, it was the annual meeting, when Damon the he just kind of dropped the news that he'd be stepping down. And everyone I mean, he's been there for a long time. Yeah. Right. So people were kind of like, oh, my gosh, what's happened? How did that moment feel? And he announced it and then announced the way forward.

Hugene Fields: 0:45

Yeah, it was an exciting opportunity. exciting moment. Extremely big shoes to feel. Yeah. But I know, everyone was probably taken aback. But we're excited. Really excited. So

Paul Daly: 0:57

Damon, you know, in very typical Damon forum, he does like super low fanfare. Like, this is Hugene. He's a good guy. He's gonna be taking the torch. And they're just kind of like, that's it. Right? And everybody's like, well, who is he who where did he come from? So a lot of us, you give us a little summary of, you know, kind of where you came from and why you're here now?

Hugene Fields: 1:15

Absolutely. So my entire professional career has been in the nonprofit arena. over 15 years of experience, eight of which I worked as an auditor, auditing nonprofit organizations all around the world. I've been to over 35 Different countries to perform various build engagements, and agreed upon procedures. After leaving the audit field. I moved into the nonprofit management field, where I help organizations strategically move forward with developing, developing and implementing their programs.

Paul Daly: 1:44

Man that that's 35 countries. 35 What was the most memorable and

Hugene Fields: 1:49

the most memorable one, I would say Tanzania, like Tanzania? I mean, Tanzania, you, you kind of get you get the African feel, but you still feel comfortable being at home. So it's really

Paul Daly: 2:01

on the water, right? Oh, man, that's beautiful. Tell me about your family. You have a family route?

Hugene Fields: 2:06

Absolutely. Absolutely. I have a wife. We've been married for eight years. We have a beautiful daughter 10 years old and two year old son.

Paul Daly: 2:14

Oh man, that's the thick of it. Those the good years. It's good years and you got tended to so you kind of got some experience. There we go. You got boy and girl. So it's like, it is a different experience. I'm just gonna tell you from experience. Totally different experience raising a boy raising a girl. Let me ask you this. You have big shoes to fill. Right? You come from an outside automotive perspective. Strangely enough. Damon also comes from an accounting background. Absolutely. So I think that there's some cool synergy there. But what is as far as your perspective on NAMAD, but you know, I'm getting kind of involved in this community now like dropped in seeing the community together? What is your feeling for the trajectory of where NAMAD is going,

Hugene Fields: 2:53

and the trajectory is bright. coming here and being able to meet our members, meet OEMs. Talk to vendors. There's definitely opportunity for us right now. There's so much going on in the auto industry as far as legislation that's going on. That transition to really pushing out EVs, digital retailing, is just a opportune time for this industry right now. So I'm really excited about getting the brand and the name of name that out to even more people, and really making sure that our dealers are taken care of, and continuing to advocate for all of our ethnic minority dealers.

Paul Daly: 3:37

That's amazing. Well, we'll help you get the word out. We got your back. If there's something you don't understand, and you don't want to mention it in there. You just come to us. Thanks for giving us a few minutes today.

Hugene Fields: 3:45

Absolutely. Thank you.

Kyle Mountsier: 3:46

Thank you for listening to In the Dirt with ASOTU. We love the automotive industry and the people who make it run day in and day out. We would love to connect with you more through our daily dose of fun, a free email that you can sign up for at asotu.com That's a s o t u.com. We put our heart and soul into it every day. Thanks again for listening. Join us next time for more Conversations In the Dirt with ASOTU

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