New this year: AAPEX awards service professionals

Carm Capriotto of the Remarkable Results podcast (left) speaks to the AAPEX service professional award winners.

The Virtual AAPEX Experience has announced the recipients of the new AAPEX Service and Repair Awards during a live-streamed ceremony.

The awards recognize and elevate the essential services that shop owners, service advisors and technicians provide to keep the motoring public on the road, even during times of crisis.

Carm Capriotto, founder and host, Remarkable Results Radio, presented the awards.

The recipient of the AAPEX Shop Owner of the Year is Brian Sump, president of Avalon Motorsports and Urban Auto Care, in Denver, Colo.

Sump has been in business 13 years, and during this time, has used his business acumen and a detailed, process-based management philosophy to grow into a multi-location shop operator.

“A leader is only as strong as the family who supports them and the team in the trenches with them,” he said. “The magnitude of humility I feel to receive this award in an industry full of such amazing leaders and impactful owners is beyond words.”

The recipient of the AAPEX Service Advisor of the Year is Jason Sexton of Dynamic Automotive in Frederick, Md.

Sexton is known is described as a teacher, and a true advisor who builds an unbelievable relationship with customers.

“When I answered the phone call from Mark at AAPEX, I was speechless. I really had no words to express how I felt,” he said. “I wasn’t aware I was even in the running to win such an award. It was an overwhelmingly amazing feeling to be recognized by such a highly regarded organization and to be selected from such an esteemed group of Service Advisors.”

The AAPEX Technician of the Year recipient is Norm Schultz of Interstate Auto Care in Madison Heights, Mich.

Schultz has 20 years of experience, is an ASE certified master technician and is described as the epitome of professionalism and dedication.

“Winning this award is sweet acknowledgement that this industry appreciates the level of time and effort that I, along with the hundreds of thousands of skilled technicians, put into our profession,” he said. “Through this recognition, I am humbled and honoured to be considered the veteran that I am, in a profession so filled with enormously talented and hard-working people that I’ve come to learn from and respect.”