Alan Spitzer
Alan is a third generation member of the Spitzer family, who established their business in 1904 when Mr. Spitzer's grandfather, George G. Spitzer, started a hardware store in the small northern Ohio community of Grafton. The hardware store is still in business today as part of a complex that contains 35 separate business entities including 20 automobile dealerships.
Alan attended Midview High School in Grafton, OH before completing his high school education at Culver Academies in Culver, IN. He received a B.A. in accounting from Baldwin-Wallace College in Berea, Ohio before entering the MBA program at Case- Western Reserve University in Cleveland.
Alan worked in all phases of the parts and service departments before beginning his sales career at the age of 15. He became an assistant sales manager at the age of 17, a general manager at a Dodge dealership in Mansfield, OH at age 20, and then Columbus, OH. At the age of 24, he became a dealer operator when the family entered the Akron, OH market with a Chrysler-Plymouth dealership. He continued to manage various automobile dealerships throughout the state of Ohio and in South Florida. In 1982 he became executive vice president of Spitzer Management, Inc. headquartered in Elyria, OH.
In 1990 he assumed the role of chief executive officer and was named chairman of the board upon the death of his father John in 1992.
When Chrysler and General Motors terminated more than 2,000 dealers in the spring of 2009 Alan led a coalition of dealers who lobbied the United States Congress to overturn the closings. This effort by the Committee to Restore Dealer Rights eventually led to the passage of legislation in December, 2009 that provided for third party arbitration for dealers to regain their franchises. Subsequent to the passage of the legislation and in the months preceding the arbitrations GM and Chrysler settled with hundreds of dealers, either providing compensation or voluntary reinstatement as a direct result of the legislation.
Mr. Spitzer and his wife Pat live in Amherst, Ohio. They have four daughters and two sons.
