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Business Growth for the Owner, Executive, and MSO

The MSO Symposium has been an extremely popular eventat NACE since it premiered in 2011, drawing attendancefrom the largest multi-shop operators in the collision repairindustry. The rebranded Collision Repair ExecutiveSymposium (CRES) now caters to a broader group ofcollision repair executives, allowing it to be more inclusive ofsome of the best operators in the collision repair industry. Italso includes some changes in content, including a focus onoperations and participation from insurance companyexecutives presenting information on the latest trends.

CRES features a day of education and networkingopportunities for MSOs. Registration also includes an ExpoPass (valid July 31 and Aug. 1), a ticket to the OpeningGeneral Session and Welcome Party, and the option to alsopurchase a Super Pass.

The 2014 CRES | MSO Symposium takes place Friday, Aug.1 from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Please note that you must be ashop owner or operator in order to attend CRES, andverification is required at the time of registration.

We sincerely thank you for your support, and hope you enjoyeverything NACE | CARS has to offer this year.

Collision Repair Executive Symposium

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2 schedule

marketing dynamics

maximizing capacity utilization

changing vehicle design and increasing repair

anatomy of an acquisition

session 1:

session 2:

session 3:

session 4:

notes

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Continental Breakfast

Market Dynamics

Changing in vehicle ownership and driving patterns,ride-sharing, collision avoidance technologies, usagebased insurance and vehicle telematics are just someof the latest factors influencing the currentmarketplace. Learn from insurance and collisionindustry executives about how these trends haveimpacted today’s market and will influence the futuremarket for collision repairs.

Moderator: Russell Thrall III, publisher and editor-in-chief, CollisionWeek Participants: Joseph Funk, vice president, AIG ComplexCasualty Claims; Susanna Gotsch, director, industryanalyst, CCC Information Services, Inc.; Randy Hanson,claim director, Allstate Insurance

Maximizing Capacity Utilization�

Collision repair operating models are constantlyevolving in response to both the marketplace and thedesire to continuously improve the business.Increasingly, successful repair facility operators arefocusing their operations on maximizing their capacityutilization to assure top-level KPI performance andassure growth.

Moderator: Erick Bickett, CEO, Fix Auto USAParticipants: Paul Krauss, president and CEO,Craftsman Auto Body; Don Mikrut, vice president ofCarCare Collision Centers; Joe Amodei, founder andCEO of The Collision Centers of New York; Rick Wood,co-CEO of Cooks Collision Centers; Mark Sanders,president and chief operating officer, Caliber CollisionCenters; David Braun, principal with Nexsyis Collision,Inc.

Lunch

8:00 – 8:30 a.m.:

8:30 – 10:00 a.m.:

10:00 – 11:30 a.m.:

11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.:

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Collision Repair Executive Symposium 2014 3

Changing Vehicle Design and Increasing Repair

Everyone knows that the vehicles repaired today arevastly different from those of just five years ago.

Learn how the industry is:• Planning their investments in plant and equipment

necessary to repair the ever-changing automobile• Building cultures geared for technical excellence• Assuring the right car gets the right repair, by the right

technician, at the right repair facility

Moderator: Roger Wright, industry executiveParticipants: Bill Brower, vice president & manager ofstrategic partnerships at Liberty Mutual Insurance;Marty Iverson, executive vice President of businessdevelopment for North America, Innovation Group;Patrick Burnett, associate vice president ofproperty and casualty claims – material damage,Nationwide Insurance; Aaron Marshall, Marshall AutoBody; David Goldstein, senior vice president –operations (California and Nevada), Caliber Collision

Anatomy of an Acquisition

Geared to small and mid-size MSO’s, this “mock”acquisition will go through the various steps of atransaction, looking at critical issues from both thebuyer’s and the seller’s viewpoint. Topics will includepresale preparation, understanding how businesses arevalued, confidentiality, due diligence, deal structure andnegotiation strategy.

Moderator: Marcy Tieger, managing director, SymphonyAdvisors, LLCParticipants: John Walcher, president of VeritasAdvisors, Inc.; and Will Johnston, vice president ofacquisitions, Service King

12:30 – 2:00 p.m.:

2:00 – 3:30 p.m.:

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Moderator:

Russell Thrall III, publisher and editor-in-chief, CollisionWeek

Participants:

Joseph Funk, vice president, AIG Complex Casualty ClaimsSusanna Gotsch, director, industry analyst, CCC Information Services, Inc.Randy Hanson, claim director, Allstate Insurance

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Russell D. Thrall III, a second-generation collisionrepairer, has been involved in the collision repairindustry his entire life. Starting as a clean-up person inbody shops owned and managed by his father, Thrallhas experienced the industry from the bottom up.

At the age of 14, Thrall began working part-time as atechnician in a shop close to home. By the time he was17, he was promoted to assistant manager.

Thrall joined the staff of Chilton's Automotive BodyRepair News (ABRN) in 1991 as technical editor. In1992, he was promoted to senior editor, responsible formaintaining the content of ABRN editorial andrepresenting at industry events nationwide.

From 1993 through 2000, Thrall served as editor ofCollision Repair Industry INSIGHT, a subscription-basedpublication with English-language circulationthroughout the world.

In 2000, Thrall founded CollisionWeek, a businessnewsletter for all segments of the global collision repairindustry. CollisionWeek provides daily business newsand trend research on the Internet and in weekly email,fax and print editions to subscribers around the world.Thrall continues to serve as publisher of CollisionWeek.

Also in 2000, Thrall returned to the staff of ABRN andserved as editor-in-chief of the world’s largest monthlytrade magazine until July 2004.

Thrall is a frequent speaker at industry events includingthe Collision Industry Conference (CIC), NACE, theInsurance Services Office APD Panel and numerousother U.S. and international events. He served aschairman of the Collision Industry Conference from2009-2010 and is a past-president of the National AutoBody Council Board of Directors. In December 2002,Thrall was inducted into the Collision Repair IndustryHall of Eagles.

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Joseph Funk is vice president, global personal linesauto claims for AIG Property and Casualty. Joe has 15years of experience in the auto claims insuranceindustry. His current responsibilities include globalmaterial damage oversight, estimating and repairnetwork oversight, process handling oversight forcomp/collision and physical damage inside adjustingfunctionality. He has experience in the automotiveindustry as general manager of a collision repair andservice center.

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Susanna Gotsch is director, industry analyst at CCCInformation Services Inc. She has been with CCC sinceJuly of 1992. Susanna brings 20-plus years ofexperience within the automotive claims industry asdirector, industry analyst. She has authored The CrashCourse, CCC’s annual publication on trends impactingcollision repair and total loss costs, since 1995. Thispublication has become a key resource for the industryin understanding how broader trends within theeconomy, new and used vehicle market places, andcollision industry are impacting auto claim frequencyand costs.

Ms. Gotsch received a B.A. from St. Olaf College in1989. She also has an M.A. from Indiana University.

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Randy is a 36-year veteran with Allstate in the claimarea. He has a B.S./B.A. degree in accounting and anMBA degree. Randy also holds professionaldesignations as a Chartered Property CasualtyUnderwriter (CPCU), Associate in Risk Management(ARM) and Society of Claim Law Associates (SLA). Healso hold four business process patents from theUnited States Patent Office that were granted in 2012,2013 and 2014.

Randy has held several recent roles within the Allstateorganization. In 2004, he served as director ofprocurement, training & field process support forSterling Autobody (an Allstate subsidiary). In 2005,Randy was appointed auto application delivery lead forthe development, design, build, test and implementationof a new claim delivery platform for Allstate. This wasthe largest technology project ever undertaken byAllstate up to that time.

In 2007, Randy was appointed senior manager ofproperty, casualty claim service organization (P-CCSO)providing field support for auto processdevelopment/mastery for Allstate’s 17,000-strong fieldclaim employee group. In 2008 Randy was namedclaim service manager for PRO to provide seniorleadership and direction for Allstate’s Priority RepairOption (PRO) program in the management of theAllstate network of affiliated direct repair auto repairfacilities. In 2009, Randy was named auto claimdirector, providing field support for auto processdevelopment/mastery.

Most recently, in August 2013, Randy was nameddirector in claims for plan & change, where he isresponsible for technology development and delivery(claims), research & development, innovation andstrategic planning.

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Moderator:

Erick Bickett, CEO, Fix Auto USA

Participants:

Paul Krauss, president and CEO, Craftsman Auto BodyDon Mikrut, vice president of CarCare Collision CentersJoe Amodei, founder and CEO of The Collision Centers of New YorkRick Wood, co-CEO of Cooks Collision CentersMark Sanders, president and chief operating officer, Caliber Collision CentersDavid Braun, principal with Nexsyis Collision, Inc.

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Erick has been in the collision industry for 35 years. Heand his partner started their business, Auto Center AutoBody, in 1984, now Fix Auto. He opened his firstbusiness in a 3,500-square-foot building. His businessnow spans over 160,000-square-feet in eight locationswith over 180 employees, doing in excess of $25 millionin gross revenues annually.

Always looking for ways to improve his business andthe industry, Erick has been a leader and innovatorsince the mid-‘80s, devoting countless hours to thecollision repair industry. Leadership roles in localassociations led to working on national issues. Erickalong with five other collision repairers founded CaliberCollision Centers in 1991, then in 1995 Erick foundedthe Collision Industry Electronic Commerce Association,(CIECA) a non-profit association organized tostandardize e-commerce and reduce inefficiency ininformation management. In 1997, he was elected to atwo-year term as the chairman of the Collision IndustryConference (CIC). BodyShop Business named ErickCollision Repair Executive of the Year in 1998. He hasalso been named by ABRN as one of the top 20 mostinfluential people in the collision repair industry.

In 1997, Erick founded FIX USA. FIX USA is an extensionof one of the most successful and united independentlyowned repair shop international networks in the world.FIX USA operates a network of more than 400 collisionrepair facilities in four countries doing more than $600million in system-wide revenues.

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Paul Krauss is the president and CEO of CraftsmanAuto Body headquartered in Leesburg, Va. He receivedhis B.S. in finance from George Mason University'sSchool of Business in 1991. With entrepreneurialismbeing Paul’s primary interest, he chose to start hiscareer at Craftsman Auto Body as general manager. Heled the expansion of Craftsman to 11 locations and275-plus employees, and has served on Liberty Mutual,State Farm, USAA and CCC advisory panels. He hasalso served on the WMABA Board and has been activemember of the Everest Group for over 20 years. Inaddition, he served on the CIECA Board for the past 15years and is past co-chair of the Repair StandardsCommittee at CIC. Paul is married to Holly Krauss andtogether they have five children.

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Don Mikrut is vice president of CarCare Collision Centers.Mikrut, 44, oversees the strategic direction of the Chicago-based, $30 million automotive collision company. Currently, theorganization has more than 120 employees across Illinois with14 locations. CarCare is one of the top 10 automotive collisionrepair facilities in the United States based on AutocheX (themarket leader in measuring customer satisfaction).

Mikrut officially became a member of the CarCare team as thevice president on April 1, 2014. Before that, he served as chiefexecutive officer of Cars Collision Center, LLC from 2000 to2011. Cars Collision was a $65 million multi-state automotivecollision repair group with 28 locations in three states. Recruitedby the BP Capital Board to assume the role of CEO and devisean operational strategy and develop infrastructure aftercustomer service, productivity and quality issues (resultingfrom aggressive acquisition efforts) surfaced. Working withdepartmental leaders, he created and implemented StandardOperating Procedures (SOP) with metrics and led integration ofnew acquisitions. This established scalability to fuel 46 percentCAGR and ultimately made Cars Collision Centers a takeovertarget and it was acquired by the Boyd Group (Canada) in 2011.

Mikrut is an innovative and creative business leader withdemonstrated achievement in the strategic development andexecution of game-changing initiatives that drive equitybuilding revenue growth while improving infrastructure andquality. He possesses the capacity to attract, recruit, mentor,manage and retain productive teams and lead them to achievedespite an ever-changing environment of growth byacquisition. He is adept at identifying and capitalizing onsynergies that accelerate business growth throughreduced product lead times, increased capacity, reducedinventory and increased cash flow. He is consistently creatingand executing cost-conscious business solutions that driveand sustain profit.

In addition, Mikrut has been honored as one of Times Businessmagazine's top "20 Under 40" business leaders and as ayouth/varsity hockey coach.

A native of Indiana, Mikrut earned a B.A. degree from PurdueUniversity in 1993 in business management. He is married andhas two children. He enjoys fitness, golf and hockey.

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Joe Amodei, founder and CEO of The Collision Centersof New York and Long Island’s only regional MSO,started in the automotive industry working for a highlinedealership and eventually started his own used cardealership in 1989 with service and a body shop. Heeventually focused on just collision repairs in 1997. Heopened a second location in 2007, a third location in2012 and plans to open a fourth location by Septemberof this year. His two sons also serve as area managersand are an instrumental part of his growth plan.

Amodei’s values have always been “Take care of thecustomer and they will always come back.” He is amember of the National Auto Body Council and has anongoing commitment to the Recycled Rides program.He is also locally involved with the Long Island AutoBody Repairman’s Association that has helped gift over20 vehicles since 2008.

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David Braun is principal with Indianapolis-based NexsyisCollision Inc., a software and consulting service for top-tier,multi-location and independent collision repairorganizations nationwide. Nexsyis Collision Inc. was founded in2002 with the express mission to increase the profitability andefficiency of the activities and reporting processes surroundingthe collision repair business. Nexsyis's goal is to help collisionrepair providers remain independent and competitive in amarket that is rapidly consolidating.

Braun, a CPA with a BBA in accounting from the University ofWisconsin, Eau Claire, has previous experience as the principalof Alamo Body & Paint, Inc., a repair company with eight shopsin San Antonio, Texas. He has held other notable positions,including chief financial officer of the Collision Team of America,a former subsidiary of Ford Motor Company.

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Moderator:

Roger Wright, industry executive

Participants:

Bill Brower, vice president & manager of strategic partnerships at LibertyMutual InsuranceMarty Iverson, executive vice president of business development for NorthAmerica, Innovation GroupPatrick Burnett, associate vice president of property and casualty claims –material damage, Nationwide InsuranceAaron Marshall, Marshall Auto BodyDavid Goldstein, senior vice president – operations (California and Nevada),Caliber Collision

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Roger has spent 40 years in the collision repair industry. Hewas vice president of operations for Sterling Autobody: VPclaims for AIG and senior VP of insurance relations forCARSTAR.

Wright has been an active participant in the collision repairindustry since the mid-'80s.

He was the vice-chair of I-CAR for the state of South Carolina in1985, state I-CAR chairman for Massachusetts from 1987-1991, a lead I-CAR instructor in unibody, plastic repair, refinish,anti-lock brakes and supplemental restraint systems from1987 through 1993. He was also chairman of the ISO/AISGAuto Physical Damage Committee from 1994-1997. He wasinducted into the Collision Repair Hall of Eagles in 1997. He is apast chairman of I-CAR’s International Board of Directors andalso a past chairman of the Collision Industry Conference.

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Bill Brower is vice president and manager of strategicpartnerships for Liberty Mutual Personal Insurance. Inhis current role, Bill leads innovation efforts and vendorrelationships across all claims disciplines at LibertyMutual Insurance. Bill has an impressive track recordfor delivering innovative industry leading solutions tosimplify and automate the claims process. He is aformer chairman of the I-CAR International Board ofDirectors and currently serves on the Board as theimmediate past chairman. Additionally, Bill serves onthe CAPA Board of Directors.

Prior to joining Liberty Mutual in 2004, Bill heldnumerous leadership positions during his 18-yearcareer with Nationwide Insurance Company.In addition to Bill’s 30-year career in the insuranceindustry, he also has experience in the collision repairbusiness having previously managed his family’s autocollision repair shop in Liberty, North Carolina.

Bill holds a B.S. in organizational leadership fromFranklin University and in 2013 completed his MBAfrom Shorter University in Atlanta, Ga.

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Prior to joining Innovation Group, Marty worked for The HarfordInsurance Group for over 30 years, where he served mostrecently as vice president of auto property damage claim,leading strategies and initiatives, which strengthened theHartford’s performance on over 500,000 annual claims.

Marty was instrumental in the development and refinement ofthe Hartford’s CRSP (Direct Repair Program). His teamdeveloped metrics to measure performance, and redesignedthe Hartford’s APD Claim handling practices which resulted insignificant reductions in claim expense and improvements incycle time, estimate channel utilization, accuracy and customersatisfaction, leading to a Chairman’s Award for OutstandingBusiness Achievement for Marty.

Marty earned his bachelor’s degree in business administrationfrom the University of New Haven, Senior Claims LawAssociate (SCLA) designation from the American EducationalInstitute and Business Mastery Certificate in Insurance fromthe University of Connecticut. He joined The Innovation Groupin January of 2008 where he serves as executive vice presidentof business development for North America.

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In his current role of associate vice president ofproperty and casualty claims – material damage,Patrick leads the technical, policy, performance andother aspects of the material damage operation. Patrickwas born and raised in Dallas, Texas, and earned hisundergraduate degree in business administration fromthe University of Texas at Arlington. He later earned anMBA from LeTourneau University in Texas as well.He started his insurance career with Farmers Insurancein Texas working successfully in a number of roles.Some of the assignments he had early in his careerincluded MD field associate (drive-in, non-drives,fires/thefts,) non-injury associate, direct repaircoordinator and several others. He moved intoleadership and later managed branch claims offices inTexas and California before moving to Farmers’ homeoffice as the national auto physical damage manager.

In 2004, Patrick moved to Columbus, Ohio, and joinedNationwide as a material damage technical directorsupporting the East, where he worked closely with fieldleaders and partners to drive consistent and improvedresults. In 2006, Patrick took over leadership of thenational recovery operation, leading teams focused onsubrogation and salvage recoveries. Under hisleadership, the teams achieved record recoveries. Inlate 2007, Patrick moved to Richmond, Va., to lead theformation of the Mid-Atlantic Claim Zone. There, hesuccessfully consolidated two regions to build a solidteam of claim professionals with a common goal ofdelivering outstanding service, while focusing ondeveloping leaders, improving the appreciation of thediversity of associates and customers, and challengingassociates in the area of personal development. Herelocated to Columbus for his current nationalleadership role.

Patrick is an avid sports fan and enjoys studyingpolitics, history and other world events.

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Aaron Marshall is co-owner of Marshall Auto Body. He is widelyknown for his innovative lean repair processes, which arefeatured in the I-CAR lean curriculum. Aaron, a pilot, travels toAxalta shops and offers practical lean implementationassistance. He has a degrees in international business fromUniversity of Denver.

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David is the senior vice president of operations forCalifornia overseeing P&L, customer service, humanresources and sales for 86 centers.

David began his career in the collision industry in 1988as a technician on Long Island, N.Y. He relocated toDallas in 1994 and in 1997 was a member of theColleyville location acquired by Caliber. In 1999, Davidwas promoted to Colleyville Center Manager aftermastering all phases of the collision repair businessincluding paint, body work, structural repair, partsmanagement and production.

Over the course of the next two years, David doubledthe revenue of Caliber’s Colleyville location and wassubsequently promoted to North Texas RegionalManager in 2001.

As Caliber continued its rapid growth into the Californiamarket, David was tapped to oversee all Californiaoperations in 2006 consisting of 86 centers across theSouthern California region. David was promoted fromregional manager to vice president of Californiaoperations in 2008.

After commuting for four years between Texas andCalifornia, David and his family relocated to California in2010 as the total number of locations continued togrow to more than 60 centers.

Based on his outstanding performance over the pastfour years, David was promoted to senior vice presidentof operations in 2012.

David has been married 12 years to his wife Shelby andhas two beautiful 9- and 20-year-old daughters.David is also a member of the AAA Advisory Board andhas competed in more than 15 marathons, ultramarathons and triathlons over the past four years.

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Moderator:

Marcy Tieger, managing director, Symphony Advisors LLC

Participants:

John Walcher, president of Veritas Advisors, Inc.Will Johnston, vice president of acquisitions, Service King

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Marcy Tieger is managing director of SymphonyAdvisors, LLC, a management consulting firm focusedon delivering operational, strategic and marketingadvisory services to the automotive aftermarket partsand services supply chain and to automobile insurancephysical damage claims organizations.

Marcy began her professional career working as a claimrepresentative for a major insurer. While working ininsurance, she attended law school, graduating in 1987.She became a member of the State Bar of Californiathat same year. Marcy was a founding partner of Tiegerand Bumiller, a law firm focused on insurance matters.She later merged her firm with the firm Berger Kahn,where she specialized in insurance, labor andemployment, and business law. She also served as anadjunct professor at Western State University, Collegeof Law.

A frequent industry writer and speaker, Marcy haspresented on a variety of topics including strategicplanning in a dynamic marketplace, business ethics,buying and selling businesses, and workplace diversity.

Marcy is a producer and moderator for the CollisionRepair Executive Webcast (CREW), a founding boardmember of the Women's Industry Network (WIN), apast trustee of the Collision Industry Foundation and amember of the Collision Industry Conference (CIC),Insurer-Repairer Relations Committee. She is arecipient of the AkzoNobel Most Influential WomanAward and the WIN Cornerstone Award. Marcy holds aB.A., a M.A. and a Juris Doctor degree.

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John Walcher is president of Veritas Advisors, Inc., a mergers &acquisitions advisory firm providing both buy-side and sell-sideM&A services to the automotive aftermarket. Veritas Advisors’sell-side mission is simple: to maximize after-tax cash whileminimizing post-closing obligations & risk. On the buy side,Veritas Advisors’ clients choose from a menu of services, fromthe specific and straightforward (such as valuations, duediligence or integration planning) to the broad and complex(creating and implementing a growth-via-acquisition strategy).Veritas Advisors also provides exit planning services andvaluations for tax purposes or to resolve disputes amongstpartners.

John has M&A experience in a variety of industries (includingautomotive aftermarket, health care and manufacturing) anddeal structures (including acquisitions, mergers, divestitures,distressed and joint ventures). He began specializing in collisionrepair M&A when he joined Caliber Collision Centers in 2000,which subsequently was ranked No. 9 on the Inc. 500 List ofFastest Growing Private Companies. In 2009, he formed VeritasAdvisors to make himself and his expertise available to shopsof all sizes, from the single-shop operator to some of thelargest MSOs. As an advisor, he has helped both small andmid-sized repairers sell their businesses to larger MSOs, as wellas enabled shops of all sizes to grow their businesses throughacquisitions and brownfields.

Outside of collision repair, John spent many years executingdomestic and international M&A transactions for two Fortune500 companies, and, prior to graduate school, was a senioreconomist performing econometric analysis as a U.S.Department of Defense contractor. He has significantexperience in strategic planning, contract law, financial analysis,regulatory compliance, crisis public relations, and commercialreal estate. He earned a master of science degree in financefrom the London Business School and a bachelor of sciencedegree in economics from the University of California.

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Mr. Johnston received a bachelor’s degree ineconomics from Duke University in 1996. Upongraduation, he worked as a consultant in the businessprocess design department of Accenture (formerlyAndersen Consulting), working with companies such asSprint, Alltel and RCA. Mr. Johnston entered thecollision repair industry in 1999 when he was hired bythen start-up AutoBody America, Inc. to help create anefficient, scalable process and technology model. In2005, after growing the company to sixteen locationsacross Tennessee, Mississippi and North Carolina, themajority investors in AutoBody America decided to sellthe company and Mr. Johnston started his ownconsulting company, N House Solutions, providingprocess, technology and accounting solutions to aselect group of clients. In 2006, Pat James, after buyingfive of the AutoBody America locations, asked Mr.Johnston to join him as an equity investor, an invitationthat was eagerly accepted. Mr. James and Mr.Johnston were able to acquire the AutoBody Americaname and logo, and after starting with the five shops,grew to 20 locations across three states. They thensold the business to Service King in 2012. Mr. Johnstonstayed on and was asked to create an acquisitionsdepartment within the Service King organization toprovide sourcing, vetting, negotiation, due diligence andclosing activities management, a department which hecontinues to lead.

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