Bob Sullivan, president of Sullivan Tire Co. Inc., in Norwell, Mass., is Modern Tire Dealer’s 20th Tire Dealer of the Year. He was elected by a panel of independent judges, including one former Tire Dealer of the Year: Tom Raben, president of Raben Tire Co. in Evansville, Ind., who was chosen in 2002.
The other 2012 judges were Saul Ludwig, author of MTD’s monthly “Ludwig Report” for more than 37 years and a managing director for Northcoast Research Holdings LLC. in Cleveland, Ohio; Dick Morgan, president of Morgan Marketing Solutions in Dallas, Texas; and Wayne Williams, another MTD columnist and president of ExSell Marketing Inc. in La Habra, Calif.
Sullivan’s selection brings our award back to Massachusetts. Barry Steinberg, president of Direct Tire & Auto Service in Watertown, and a competitor of Sullivan Tire, was the first Tire Dealer of the Year in 1993.
The following is a list of our past Tire Dealer of the Year award winners.
1993 - Barry Steinberg, Direct Tire & Auto Service
1994 - Jerry Bauer, Bauer Built Inc.
1995 - Tony Troilo, Rosson & Troilo Motor Co.
1996 - David Stringer, Stringer Tire Co.
1997 - Walt Dealtrey Sr., Service Tire Truck Centers
1998 - Tom Gegax, Team Tires Plus Ltd.
1999 - Raynal Pearson, Pearson Tire Co.
2000 - Les Schwab, Les Schwab Tire Centers
2001 - Larry Morgan, Morgan Tire & Auto Inc.
2002 - Tim Raben, Raben Tire Co.
2003 - John Marshall, Grismer Tire Co. Inc.
2004 - Bob and Juanita Purcell, Purcell Tire & Rubber Co.
2005 - Paul Zurcher, Zurcher Tire Inc.
2006 - Bill Williams, Jack Williams Tire Co.
2007 - Charlie Creighton, Colony Tire Corp.
2008 - Ken Towery, Ken Towery's AutoCare SuperCenter.
2009 - Bill Ziegler, Ziegler Tire & Supply Co.
2010 - John Snider, Snider Tire Inc.
2011: Nick Mitsos, Mountain View Tire & Service Inc., Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.
In recognition of this achievement, MTD will donate $1,000 and a percentage of congratulatory ad revenue in Sullivan’s name to a charity of his choice.
The Sullivan Tire suppliers that ran congratulatory advertising in this section are: Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., Bartec USA LLC, Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations LLC, Yokohama Tire Corp., Aftersoft Network N.A. Inc., Michelin North America Inc., Continental Tire the Americas LLC, Tech International, MaddenCo Inc., Mohawk Rubber Sales Inc., China Manufacturers Alliance LLC/Double Coin, TBC Wholesale Group and NAPA Auto Parts.
