Consumer >> CEO Interviews >> April 12, 1999

Joseph Shaker – Hometown Auto Recovery Inc (hcar)

JOSEPH SHAKER, President and Chief Operating Officer, is the strategist behind the success of Hometown Auto Retailers, Inc., Watertown, Connecticut. Hometown is a driving force in automotive dealership consolidation in the Northeast. Mr. Shaker recently led Hometown through its successful initial public offering, and continues to lead the company in its bid to innovate the consolidation and management of auto dealerships throughout New England and New Jersey. He has been the President and COO since 1997, and is in charge of the company's dealer acquisition and integration program. Since 1991, he has also been the COO of Shaker's Jeep Eagle and Lincoln Mercury Autocare in Watertown, Connecticut. In 1992, at the request of Ford Motor Company and in an effort to retain more new and used car buyers' service businesses, he developed the pilot free-standing neighborhood Autocare Center. This center has become the model for free-standing neighborhood auto maintenance centers for both Ford and other leading automobile companies. He also started Shaker's Lincoln Mercury limousine department in 1992 and has been responsible for growing it into the nation's largest seller of Lincoln Town Cars and limousines. Profile
TWST: Please give us a brief overview of Hometown Auto Retailers, your

history, products, services, customers, those kinds of things.

Mr. Shaker: Hometown Auto Retailers was a group of three