Long serving motoring industry figurehead and Tamworth native Terry Keating was recently passed the torch by Ian Field as the new chairman of the Australian Auto Motive Dealer Association.

The announcement came last week during a committee meeting held at the enormously popular AADA National Dealer Convention in Melbourne.

Before joining the automotive industry Mr Keating was a practicing accountant. But he got his start in 1970, operating an individual Ford dealership in Tamworth, NSW. As the success of his business grew, Mr Keating expanded this dealership to include BMW, Nissan, Land Rover and range of heavy truck franchises. He retired in 2009, but business continues as usual under the guidance of his son Murray.

He has since enjoyed an exciting and prosperous career across a broad range of areas in the automotive industry. Chairman of the BMW National Dealer council in 1998 in 1999, he also served as chairman of the Ford National Dealer Council from 2000 to 2007. It’s with this knowledge that we are supremely confident in Mr Keating’s abilities and wish him all the best in acting as a powerful voice for Australian car dealers in both the political and every day arena.

During the Chairman’s Dinner at the AADA Convention, Mr Keating thanked his predecessor Mr Ian Field for his years of service and dedication to our organization.

He said thank you “was faint praise when compared to your achievement” on behalf of the dealers of Australia.

“Your legacy must be that never again will the beneficiaries of your efforts, the new-car dealers of Australia, both big and small, metro, provincial and rural, allow complacency and in some cases disinterest, to cause our association and indeed our combined destinies, to be controlled by anyone other than new car dealers”.