PORT ANGELES — Dan Wilder Sr. of Wilder Auto Center and Wilder Toyota-Scion is 2011-2012 president of the Washington State Auto Dealers Association.
He assumed his new responsibilities at the organization’s recent annual convention. Wilder has been a longtime member of the association’s board of directors and its executive committee.
Wilder said his goals as president “are growing the number of dealers and dealership employees who work closely with state and federal elected officials to educate them on the value of franchised dealers to the state.”
He said he will also “continue the association’s partnership with the state’s departments of licensing and revenue and the Office of the Attorney General to maintain a fair regulatory approach that supports an ethical and level playing field for dealers and consumers.”
Founded in 1920, the association’s 300 dealer members serve 75 communities in Washington and are responsible for annual sales volume totaling nearly $9 billion.
Together, they employ more than 17,000 people with a combined payroll of more than $850 million.
Their dealership sales total 10.2 percent of the state’s retail sales, generating hundreds of millions of dollars of tax revenue for state and local governments through sales, corporate and payroll tax revenue.
In addition to being a Port Angeles-based auto dealer, Wilder is a countywide community volunteer, educational leader and philanthropist.
He received the Clallam County Community Service Award for 2010 for outstanding public service.
He was presented with the Robert P. Mallon Dealer of the Year Award at the state auto dealers association’s convention in 2009.
Selected by a committee of his peers, the award recognized Wilder’s contributions to the auto industry, quality dealership operations and community leadership.
Wilder was one of three finalists for the 2010 national Time magazine Dealer of the Year Award, which recognizes new car and truck dealers for exceptional performance in their dealerships and distinguished community service.
He was also picked as the 2010 Time Dealer of the Year for Washington state.
Wilder began his career in the automobile industry in 1966 as a parts delivery man for a Volkswagen dealer in California.
In 1977, he moved to Port Angeles to buy a dealership of his own and, at 27, became the second-youngest Volkswagen dealer in the United States.
Since then, his two dealerships on Deer Park Road at U.S. Highway 101 between Port Angeles and Sequim have grown to a staff of more than 100.
Together with Sally, his wife of 46 years, Wilder strives to “create an atmosphere where employees feel like family and customers are treated as we would want to be treated.”
Also at Wilder Auto Center and Wilder Toyota-Scion are son Dan Wilder Jr. as the general manager and daughter Tami Rose as the employee and customer relations manager.
Six grandchildren have also worked at times in the dealership, doing everything from washing cars on the lot to answering phones.
Wilder has served on the Olympic Medical Center Foundation board for 21 years and has sponsored the foundation’s well-known Great Olympic Duck Derby, supplying a Toyota vehicle to the top winner since 1989.
He has been on the Independent Bible Church elder board for 30 years and actively supports the Olympic Kidney Center board, Peninsula College Foundation, Young Life and United Way.
He has served as a member of the Peninsula College board of trustees, donates and raises money for scholarships and speaks to students about the importance of education.
Part of the dealership’s benefit package allows employees to send their children to Peninsula College for two years with paid tuition.
