My name is Brad Nikolaus and I am the President of Associated Dealers, Inc. We are also known in the industry as ADI. I would like to share our story with you. It is one of great vision and an unwavering commitment to that vision.
The story begins with Jerry McMillen, the Owner and C.E.O. of ADI. Jerry is from the St Louis, MO area. Jerry began his career in sales in the automobile industry. In 1967 he moved from St Louis, Missouri to Mesa, Arizona. He became familiar with “mobile homes” as the car dealership he was the General Manager of also sold mobile homes. He said, “It didn’t take me long to figure out I had to sell ten cars to make as much profit as I could selling one mobile home!” So in 1973 he left the car business and started an in-park sales operation, listing and selling used mobile homes in parks.
Jerry opened his first retail sales center located at 8808 E. Apache Trail in Mesa, AZ in 1977, and was one of the first dealers in the country to set his lot up as an environmental display sales center. All the models were ground set for easy access. The center was beautifully landscaped and the homes were fully furnished.
In October of 1979, Dennis Johnson, who today is our Executive Vice President, and I joined Jerry’s company as salesmen. I began my career in the industry in 1975 and Dennis started in 1977. A couple of years later Jerry made a decision to open his second location in Mesa, AZ, and Dennis and I were assigned to manage the new sales center. As the years passed, Jerry opened more and more locations in Arizona. By 1986 the company had grown to 13 sales centers. In that same year, I assumed responsibilities as Finance Manager for the company. A few months later Dennis also started a new phase in his career by becoming Sales Manager for the entire company.
Jerry had a goal to become the number one dealer in sales in the state of Arizona. In 1986, with the management team now in place, this goal was achieved. The company repeated the status of being number one in sales in Arizona in 1987 and again in 1988!
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