Auto Dealer Bernard F. Curry III Wins National Recognition
The nomination of Bernard F. Curry III, dealer principal at Curry Honda in Yorktown Heights, for the 2019 TIME Dealer of the Year award was announced recently by TIME.
Curry is one of a select group of 51 dealer nominees from across the country who will be honored at the 102nd annual National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) Show in San Francisco on January 25, 2019. The announcement of this year’s 50th annual award was made by Jorg Stratmann, publisher, TIME, and Doug Timmerman, president of Auto Finance for Ally Financial.
The TIME Dealer of the Year award is one of the automobile industry’s most prestigious and highly coveted honors. Recipients are among the nation’s most successful auto dealers who also demonstrate a long-standing commitment to community service.
Curry, 66, was chosen to represent the Greater New York Automobile Dealers Association in the national competition – one of only 51 auto dealers nominated for the 50th annual award from more than 16,000 nationwide.
“Being a business owner gives me the wonderful opportunity to give back to my community through charitable work, to provide good jobs for more than 1,000 people, including 450 here in Westchester County, and to enhance the lives of their families,” Curry said. “I greatly appreciate this recognition and share it with the entire Curry team.”
A 1971 graduate of Northwood School in Lake Placid, New York, Curry earned a B.S.B.A. in finance at the Daniels College of Business at University of Denver in Denver, Colorado, in 1975. He and his wife, Cynthia, have three children.
While in high school and college, Curry worked at his father’s Chevrolet dealership in Scarsdale, carrying on a long tradition in the retail automotive business first forged by his grandfather in 1919 in New York City. After graduating from college, he served as pre-owned car manager, general manager and director of dealership operations over the next 20 years, purchasing his own dealership group in 1995 and ultimately acquiring his father’s dealerships, known as Curry Automotive.
Today, the enterprise encompasses 12 dealerships across New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Georgia, representing brands Acura, Chevrolet, Honda, Hyundai, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Subaru and Toyota.
Curry credits his hiring practices and business model for his long-standing success.
“We hire the best qualified general management from a performance, character and ethical standpoint,” he explained. “Then we empower them to be leaders and operate their respective dealerships within the scope of our guiding principles.”
Specifically, he is being recognized for applying his management expertise and personal philosophy to community causes, helping to transform a small local hospital into a thriving medical center. “Our local hospital was not providing the quality of service members of our community expected and deserved,” Curry said. “I once sent a mechanic requiring medical care to a different hospital further away because of my concern about its quality and the level of care.”
When he was recruited to serve on the hospital’s board of directors after it hired a new CEO, he jumped at the chance to have a positive impact. Now known as New York-Presbyterian Hudson Valley Hospital, it is a highly rated institution that brings great medical care to the entire region.
“I am proud to have played a part in what was the most dramatic organizational ‘turnaround’ that I have ever witnessed,” he said, noting that now the hospital’s campus includes a new cancer center, emergency room, digestive health center and rehabilitation center. And Curry continues to raise funds for the hospital.
Curry was also instrumental in the creation of the Westchester Children’s Museum, located in the landmark boathouses at Playland Amusement Park in Rye, as a founding board member and museum benefactor. There, he currently sponsors an educational exhibit called Toddler Beach, which challenges a child’s motor skills through climbing and movement.
A recipient of numerous honors for his philanthropic work, Curry is equally committed to bettering the lives of his employees.
“By creating a nurturing environment of long-tenured senior staff and general managers, we improve the outlook, aspirations and quality of life for each of our team members,” he said. “There is no greater reward than to have people come up the ladder behind you and excel professionally in their own right.”
Dealers are nominated by the executives of state and metro dealer associations around the country. The award is sponsored by TIME in association with Ally Financial, and in cooperation with NADA. A panel of faculty members from the Tauber Institute for Global Operations at the University of Michigan will select one finalist from each of the four NADA regions and one national Dealer of the Year. Three finalists will receive an additional $5,000 for their favorite charities and the winner will receive an additional $10,000 to give to charity.
In its eighth year as exclusive sponsor, Ally will recognize dealer nominees and their community efforts by contributing $1,000 to each nominee’s 501(c)3 charity of choice. Nominees will also be recognized on AllyDealerHeroes.com, which highlights the philanthropic contributions and achievements of TIME Dealer of the Year nominees.
“It’s an incredible honor to recognize these dealers for their business accomplishments and their unwavering commitment to ‘Do It Right’ by helping others in their communities,” Timmerman said. “They are extraordinary auto leaders who care and go the extra mile to give of themselves to make their communities stronger. Ally is proud to support and celebrate their achievements.”
Curry was nominated for the TIME Dealer of the Year award by Mark Schienberg, president of the Greater New York Automobile Dealers Association.
Rick has more than 40 years’ experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, running the gamut from politics and crime to sports and human interest. He has been an editor at Examiner Media since 2012. Read more from Rick’s editor-author bio here. Read Rick’s work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/pezzullo_rick-writer/
