The annual conference and networking event, Canadian Dealer Excellence East, or CADEX for short, was held this past Wednesday in Halifax, N.S. The event brought industry experts and keynote speakers for an intense half-day conference followed by a President’s Dinner gala event. The event is organized by the Nova Scotia Automobile Dealers Association (NSADA).
“We got great feedback from our dealer members,” said John Sutherland, NSADA’s Executive Vice-President. “It was the best attended CADEX event we’ve held.”
The conference, themed “The Future of Automotive Retail” delivers education and insights, but also created an annual gathering and networking opportunity for dealers, suppliers, and educational institutions like the Automotive Business School of Canada, who held an Alumni dinner event the night before CADEX, celebrating the Canadian Dealer Academy.
Guest speakers at this year’s event included double representation from the national dealer association with Tim Reuss, President & CEO of the Canadian Automobile Dealers Association (CADA); he delivered an update on key files the association is working on with a political update from Huw Williams, CADA’s Director of Public Affairs.
This year’s event was moderated by Niel Hiscox, Publisher of Canadian auto dealer and President of Universus. “Niel always does such an excellent job moderating and helping line up the speakers for our event,” said Sutherland.
Other speakers included: Matthew Growden, head of Google Canada’s Automotive Practice; Steve Greenfield, CEO and Founder at Automotive Ventures; Christina Morris, from Subaru Canada, who presented new research from Accelerate Auto about the Black consumer experience in auto retail; Jeremie Bernardin, Business Development Manager, ALL EV by Steele; Pamela Tiller, Weis & Associates, who presented on the seven key impacts EVs will have on dealerships; and Joe D’Urzo, Rocket EV Charging Solutions.
TD Auto Finance was the event’s presenting sponsor; other sponsors included Canadian auto dealer magazine, CADA, and the NSADA.
