Highlights of January 19 Meeting

 

 

 

 

 

Chuck explained that the holder of the ticket drawn would automatically win $45.  They would also win the opportunity to try to draw the Ace of Clubs from the cards remaining in the deck.  Should they be so lucky, they would additionally win the big pot which was up to $275.  Jim McGown offered to draw the ticket saying he could be fair since he had not purchased a raffle ticket prior to the meeting.  The card he drew belonged to Ed Koeneman.  After verifying the Ace was in the deck and shuffling the cards, Ed laid them out neatly and carefully selected a card, which he held up to show - the Three of Hearts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Polly Cady introduced Allan, saying he would be talking about his 39-year career in the car business, starting in Kansas and ending up in Phoenix, with his direct involvement in 80 Nissan Dealerships.  She said it was Allan's job to make them profitable.  She said he was able to do that because he was ethical and had good people skills.

 

Among the interesting things that happened along the way was the Dos Equis beer bottles that appeared at a special event honoring Allan by naming Allan Cady as the "Most Interesting Man in the World."

 

Allan found out about Rotary from Polly.  In 2010 he became an honorary member of Rotary, and was first named a Paul Harris Fellow.  He became a full member in 2017 and soon after that was elected to be President.  He is on the Board of Directors of The Rotary Vocational Fund of Arizona and serves as their Fundraising Chair.  He also serves as the President of the Rotary District 5495 Charitable Fund.

 

Allan thanked Polly for her introduction.  He said he was going to talk about three things - his career in the car business, Mesa West Rotary's Sponsor Program, and TRVFA.

 

Allan moved to Independence, Missouri in 1976 to go to work for the Independence Sanitarian Hospital.  He worked there two years before he hooked up with Larry Van Tuyl, who hired Allan to be his Comptroller Trainee.  With that change, Allan moved to Hutchinson Kansas.  He relocated to Phoenix in 1982 where he would still be with Larry and oversee 3-4 dealerships.  Over time, the Van Tuyl holdings grew.  Six years ago, he sold 84 dealerships to Warren Buffett.  It was the largest independent (not public) dealership in the nation.

 

Among the perks of working for that large of an organization, was the opportunity to fly anywhere Allan chose on a Citation.  The Citation flew at 50,000 feet, which is above the turbulence and travelled at 700 mph.

 

Allan hired and trained comptrollers at each dealership.  He was in charge of planning their annual meetings.  He worked with the external auditors and supervised the internal audit team.  He negotiated all pricing of goods and services as well as master agreements with providers such as UPS.  He was able to save $millions.

 

He had one unique responsibility.  Larry disliked firing General Managers.  Allan got that responsibility.  It was always for cause or poor performance.  Because Allan did it, he had a reputation.  An Atlanta General Manager called Allan the "Angel of Darkness."  Allan one went to a Peoria Nissan dealership where the lady who was their manager had done something really good.  He wanted to recognize her with a bottle of wine.  His appearance at the site created an undercurrent.  When he finally found Teresa and presented her with the bottle of wine, she meekly said "Thank you."

 

Allan shared a story about a time when he was in Atlanta on the Hugh Norris Freeway, which is especially difficult.  Traffic was moving slow.  He noticed the gas tank was close to empty.  He looked for a place where he could pull off to get gas.  When ever they came to an access road, the could see no stations.  Finally, he saw a gas station sign over the next hill.  They ran out of gas at the crest of the hill.  The little guy who was with him got out to push.  Allan had his window down hollering encouragement to him.  When they finally got to the station, the little guy begged Allan to stop at the closest pump.

 

For fun, Allan asked which of four areas members thought were most profitable for dealerships:

When Allan was in the business.  They are listed in 1, 3, 2, 4 order of how they performed while Allan was still in the industry.  Much has changed since COVID.  They have no inventory.  Profits are good.  There is no need to advertise.,  Flooring costs are down.  Used cars and financing and insurance both do well.  When Allan retired, they were making more on financing and insurance than on sale of vehicles.

 

When John Eagleston was President in 2017-18, John came up with the idea of the sponsor program and asked Allan to handle it.  All donations received in the sponsor program go into The Mesa West Rotary Foundation (our club's 501(c)(3) charity) as restricted or non-restricted donations.  Allan is in the process of dividing the club into six teams with a captain assigned to each team.  Letters will be sent to past and prospective donors.   Members will be provided with prospect ideas.

 

In the four years we have done the sponsorship program, we have averaged $50,000 each year.  This year, he is increasing the goal to $60,000.  During COVID the goal was reduced to $35,000.  The program actually brought in $56,000 that year.  80% of members have either made a personal donation or solicited outside funds.  38% of members have successfully brought in outside donations.  

 

The pitch is to help us continue to grow and support all our club's charitable causes.  There is no overhead - no cost of fundraising - all funds are available to be used for good purposes.

 

TRVFA was started in 1990.  The goal is to provide vocational education grants to Arizona citizens of any age.  Their income cannot exceed 150% of the poverty level.  Jeanie Morgan is the current President.  Bryan Goetzenberger interviews the applicants who are referred to Mesa West Rotary Club for the required Rotary Club sponsorship screening interview.

 

TRVFA is a Qualifying Charitable Organization (QCO).  Most Rotarians have owe personal income tax to the State of Arizona when they file for taxes each year.  TRVFA has a goal of bringing in $350,000 this year.  As of January 6, they were at $131,000.  Mesa West is the tob giving club with $26,000 given to TRVFA so far this fiscal year (July 2022 - June 2023).   Up to $400 given to a QCO can be used as a credit to offset Arizona state income tax for an individual tax payer.  Up to $800 can be given to a QCO by married couples filing jointly.  There are additional tax credit options also available - public school, Qualifying Foster Care Organizationis, etc.  Allan feels that too many Rotarians are in need of a clearer understanding of how much liberty we have in Arizona state to choose what good can be done with the tax obligation we each owe to the state.  

 

Allan shared a math exercise.  There are roughly 3,400 Rotary Club members in the two Arizona Districts.  If 40% didn't have to pay personal income tax to the state, that would leave 2,000.  If half of those each gave $400, that would bring in a total of $400,000.