BETHESDA, Md. — The elite club of "World Class" auto technicians — those who attain ASE certification in 22 specific areas during a calendar year — grew by 51 last year, including at least three working for tire dealerships.
The World Class Technician distinction is one designated and tracked by the Auto Care Association and National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence (ASE), which stated recently that only about 2,000 of the 800,000-plus auto technicians in the U.S. have achieved such status in the past 30 years.
Newly minted World Class Technicians who work for tire dealerships include:
- Mark Bellerose, Sullivan Tire & Auto Service, Manchester, N.H.;
- Tyler Blake, Pride Auto Care, Mead, Colo.; and
- Wesley Luther, VIP Tires & Service, Bangor, Maine.
There may be others, but the list published by the ACA and ASE doesn't show the employers of all 51 new top techs.
In total, there are approximately 243,000 technicians in the U.S. holding ASE certification, but typically only about 50 achieve World Class status in any given year.
Others who earned the designation (listed alphabetically) are:
- Russell Absolom – General Motors, Pine, Colo.
- Jacob Albertson – UTI, Saint Cloud, Fla.
- Conner Anderson – Texas State University, Frisco, Texas
- Irfaun Bacchus – General Motors, Euless, Texas
- Chad Blythe – General Motors, Weston, Fla.
- Thomas Breshears Jr. – Texas State Technical College, Gatesville, Texas
- Brian Brownfield – Toyota Motor North America, Plano, Texas
- José Campos III – Astech, Portland, Texas
- James Cassell – North East, Md.
- Nicholas Conner – Simmonson Automotive, Pasco, Wash.
- Brian Dougherty – Huxley, Iowa
- Zachery Evans – General Motors, Port St. Lucie, Fla.
- Charles Ferguson – Columbia, Tenn.
- Brad Hall – Spring Hill, Kan.
- Richard Heimerl – Enterprise Fleet Management, St. Louis, Mo.
- Joshua Hernandez Vargas – Toyota of Stockton, Manteca, Calif.
- Don Kashuba – Sherwood Park, Alberta, Canada
- Howard Kendrick –Dennis Road Automotive, McKinney, Texas
- Artin Khachatourian – MMW Auto Repair, Sylmar, Calif.
- Scott Kohart – General Motors, Troy, Mich.
- Brian Lacroix – Capital Region Board of Cooperative Education Services Shaftsbury, Vt.
- Scott Lewiston – Metamora, Mich.
- Jason Manfredda – Las Vegas Valley Water District, Pahrump, Nev.
- Allen Martin – Lead Hill, Ark.
- Ryan Matt – General Motors, Syracuse, N.Y.
- Jason Mayberry – Pickerington, Ohio
- Armand Mayzel Jr. – Woodbridge, Va.
- Sean McDonough – The Dirty Muffler, Westminster, Colo.
- Richard McMahon Jr. – Charlton, Mass.
- Clinton Mielke – General Motors, Albuquerque, N.M.
- Robert Morrison III – First Vehicle Services, Abingdon, Md.
- Joe Moyer – General Motors, Rochester, Minn.
- Mark Munson – E-One, Silver Creek, N.Y.
- Robert Myrick – Lincoln College of Technology, Murfreesboro, Tenn.
- Mark Osoteo – UC Davis Fleet Department, Davis, Calif.
- Adam Osswald – Hamilton, Ohio
- Scott Peterson – General Motors, Hesperia, Calif.
- Karl Poffinbarger – Hamilton, Ohio
- Safadyn Ramahi – General Motors, Roseville, Calif.
- Kevin Rulison – Top Frog Diesel, Copperas Cove, Texas
- Jacob Sorensen – McNeil's Auto Care, West Jordan, Utah
- Tim Stanford – LAT Automotive L.L.C., Clovis, N.M.
- Thomas Tejeda – Anthem, Ariz.
- Howard Tribby, Jr. – Toyota, Fairfax, Va.
- Bradey Varner – Alamosa, Colo.
- Daniel Verbeke – Enterprise Holdings, St. Louis;
- James Waters – General Motors Field Engineer, Pine, Colo.
- Richard Whiteman – First Transit, Houston, Texas