Pep Boys, an Icahn Automotive Group company, announced the winners of its annual Pep Boys ‘Tech of the Year’ award. The company recognized its top-performing automotive service technicians in each business region based on performance and customer service metrics from the prior year.
The Pep Boys Technician of the Year winners are Master Technicians Alan Bethyou, Chicago; Robert Daigle, Nashua, N.H.; John Forsythe, San Antonio, Texas; Raffi Kazanjian, Van Nuys, Calif.; Peter Madhoo, Apopka, Fla; and Rob Rathbun, Manchester, N.H.; and Technician Alexis Gonzalez-Rosario, Cauguas, Puerto Rico.
“Our automotive technicians are the backbone of our service organization. They are the hard-working members of our team who make our customers’ safety a priority every day,” said Brian Kaner, president of service at Icahn Automotive. “The ‘Tech of the Year’ winners represent the very best of our team from across the country.”
Each 2018 Pep Boys ‘Tech of the Year’ was recently given their award in presentations at regional leadership meetings. The recipients were chosen based on the quality and volume of the technician’s work; record of excellent customer service efforts; and a proven commitment to ongoing professional development and continuing education. The respective stores of each ‘Tech of the Year’ also have the distinction of being the “home” of one of the Company’s most outstanding technicians.
These awards were presented as Icahn Automotive launched its “Race to 2026” initiative, a commitment to help fill the industry-wide technician talent gap projected to be at 46,000 in seven years. The Race to 2026 program includes initiatives to attract those to the skilled trades, while supporting the Icahn Automotive Group’s own employee network through this and other, similar recognition programs, tuition assistance, an apprenticeship program and additional company-sponsored training and certifications.
