Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/360137
www.PowersportsBusiness.com NEWS Powersports Business • August 11, 2014 • 11 Noto contacted Chaconas after receiving a mailer announcing that a Harley-Davidson acquisition opportunity was available. Although that particular deal did not come to fruition, Noto and Chaconas kept in touch over the years. When the Noto brothers were ready to sell their Harley-Davidson dealerships and grow and expand other businesses, they contacted Chaconas to facilitate the sale. POWERSPORT INSTITUTE COMMITTEE MEETS IN CLEVELAND To continually review the training and cur- riculum at PowerSport Institute, the school holds a Program Advisory Committee meet- ing at least twice a year. HOTNEWS CONTINUED FROM 3 See Hot News, Page 14 SPEAKER BIOS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 10 technology and rich product information. He is an avid motorcyclist and holds an MBA in mar- keting and bachelor's in web and digital media design from the University of Wisconsin. ERIK STEPHENS, TWISTED THROTTLE Erik is the founder and CEO of Twisted Throttle, a manufacturer and distributor of parts, gear and accessories for adventure rid- ing and sport-touring. Founded in 2002 at the beginning of the adventure riding movement, Twisted Throttle now has distribution opera- tions in both the U.S. and Canada, designs and produces several house brands of adventure accessories, employs more than 40 staff mem- bers and participates in dozens of dual sport events annually. Its Factory Store in Exeter, R.I., serves as a design lab for creating the per- fect adventure riding destination, including an on-site cafe, campground, learning center, service shop, retail store, prototyping lab and host of frequent community events. Erik's past business lives include running a three-crew house painting company at the age of 18, moonlighting as a trombone player in Philadelphia-area rock bands during col- lege and working as a consulting engineer in the environmental industry. After being nicknamed "The Terminator" for wearing race leathers to a law firm board meeting, Erik per- manently traded in his corporate office chair for an adventure bike when his side gig of organiz- ing group buys of V-Strom luggage grew more than he expected and turned into a full-time distribution business. GART SUTTON, GART SUTTON & ASSOCIATES An internationally recognized speaker and edu- cator, Gart Sutton is the president of Gart Sut- ton & Associates, Inc., a company he founded in 1980. His retailing background has been a family tradition since his grandfather opened a Los Angeles Ford dealership in 1921. While Gart's expertise is in sales, he has worked in every facet of the vehicle retail business. His business acumen is built on a strong foundation of formal education (business and psychology degrees) and real-world experience (retail man- agement). Gart has been a powersports industry man- agement consultant for more than 30 years. His skill set includes facilitating educational workshops, moderating dealer groups, con- ducting industry research, developing training solutions for powersports manufacturers and conducting on-site dealership training and consulting. He has moderated multiple pow- ersports 20-group meetings in the U.S. and Canada for many years. Gart has authored more than a dozen indus- try books and spoken to thousands of retailers, manufacturers and distributors worldwide. His featured columns have been seen in Powersports Business, Motorcycle Product News and Boating Industry magazines. His ride exploits can be found on his blog at gartrides.com. Gart is presenting at the Pow- ersports Business Institute @ AIMExpo for the second time. DR. DEBORAH WATTS, LIPSCOMB UNIVERSITY Dr. Deborah Watts conducted training and development sessions for the America's Pow- erSports dealerships from 1998-2006. Today she teaches Organizational Development and Management, as well as serving as the director of Graduate Student Services in the College of Business at Lipscomb University in Nashville. She has provided keynote speeches on a range of business-oriented topics. PSB The PowerSport Institute Program Advisory Com- mittee recently held its bi-annual meeting in Cleve- land. (Front row, left) Laurie Rengel, Polaris Industries; Robin Tominello, Transpor- tation Research Center; Tara Ivory, Polaris Industries; Kira Daczko, PSI Career Services director; and David Troncoso, Suzuki Motor of America Inc. (Back) Eric Hjalmarson, Kawasaki Motor Corp.; Bernie Thompson, PSI Campus director; Joe Hammergren, Transporta- tion Research Center; Jerrod Rickard, American Honda Motor Co.; Ron Radeke, PSI V-twin manager; and Doug McIntyre, Suzuki Motor of America Inc.