ABOT & BBOT 2018 Annual Dinner
Photos courtesy of Steve Nelson of https://www.fayfoto.com/
Herb Chambers spoke at our 2018 Annual Dinner. He was born in Dorchester, Massachusetts, resides in Boston and Connecticut and owns The Herb Chambers Companies with currently 56 total dealerships.
Herb served for four years in the United States Navy as an aviation electrician.
Prior to entering the automobile business, Herb was the founder of A-Copy America, which became the largest office copier dealer in the world. In 1983, he merged that company with what is now known as Ikon. Ikon is an international company listed on the New York Stock Exchange and they operate in 8 countries. Herb became the single largest shareholder in this Fortune 500 Company.
In 1985, Herb sought another business challenge. He has always been a car enthusiast, so he looked to the automobile business as a place loaded with opportunity. He was right! He started out with the purchase of a dealership in New London, CT. At that time there were 33,000 authorized auto dealerships. Herb likes to say, we became number 33,000 and one! Our auto business has grown very fast and today if we were publicly owned (which we are not) we would be ranked the 5th largest in the United States. That is a long way from 33,001!
Herb believes that we have achieved phenomenal success in the automobile dealership business because of the education he received from other dealers prior to entering the business. Having a huge passion for automobiles and acquiring hundreds of them for himself and his companies he likes to say he has been a "victim" of more car dealers than anyone he knows.
The Herb Chambers Companies generates over two billion dollars in sales each year with over two thousand employees. That is more than three times larger than any other dealer in New England. In fact last year, over 50,000 people chose Herb Chambers as the place to buy their new or used vehicle and another 420,000 client's serviced with our dealerships.
The Herb Chambers Companies has been ranked as one of the "Top Places to Work" by the Boston Globe for 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 & 2017. In fact, we are the only car dealer to ever make the list. We have won more J.D. Power Certified retailer awards than any other automobile dealer in the country.
Herb served for four years in the United States Navy as an aviation electrician.
Prior to entering the automobile business, Herb was the founder of A-Copy America, which became the largest office copier dealer in the world. In 1983, he merged that company with what is now known as Ikon. Ikon is an international company listed on the New York Stock Exchange and they operate in 8 countries. Herb became the single largest shareholder in this Fortune 500 Company.
In 1985, Herb sought another business challenge. He has always been a car enthusiast, so he looked to the automobile business as a place loaded with opportunity. He was right! He started out with the purchase of a dealership in New London, CT. At that time there were 33,000 authorized auto dealerships. Herb likes to say, we became number 33,000 and one! Our auto business has grown very fast and today if we were publicly owned (which we are not) we would be ranked the 5th largest in the United States. That is a long way from 33,001!
Herb believes that we have achieved phenomenal success in the automobile dealership business because of the education he received from other dealers prior to entering the business. Having a huge passion for automobiles and acquiring hundreds of them for himself and his companies he likes to say he has been a "victim" of more car dealers than anyone he knows.
The Herb Chambers Companies generates over two billion dollars in sales each year with over two thousand employees. That is more than three times larger than any other dealer in New England. In fact last year, over 50,000 people chose Herb Chambers as the place to buy their new or used vehicle and another 420,000 client's serviced with our dealerships.
The Herb Chambers Companies has been ranked as one of the "Top Places to Work" by the Boston Globe for 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 & 2017. In fact, we are the only car dealer to ever make the list. We have won more J.D. Power Certified retailer awards than any other automobile dealer in the country.
