Walt Massey, a Lucedale automobile dealer, has been named the Mississippi nominee for the 2020 TIME Dealer of the Year award.
Massey is one of 49 dealer nominees from across the country who will be honored at the 103rd annual National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) Show in Las Vegas on February 15, 2020.
The TIME Dealer of the Year award is one of the automobile industry’s most prestigious honors. Recipients are among the nation’s most successful auto dealers who also demonstrate a long-standing commitment to community service.
Massey, 48, was chosen to represent the Mississippi Automobile Dealers Association (MADA) in the national competition.
Massey began his career in the retail auto business at the age of 8, cutting the grass and washing cars at his father’s dealership in Citronelle, Alabama. After high school, he attended the University of Mobile but returned home when his father purchased a struggling dealership across the state line in Mississippi in 1993.
“The dealership was located in an old dilapidated building on Main Street in Lucedale,” Massey said. “My dad planned to hire a manager to run the dealership but could not find anyone who would take the job. I told him I would quit school and run the store.”
Massey opened the dealership 13 days before his 22nd birthday and slowly expanded the operation. Today he operates five new franchised dealerships employing more than 175 people.
Massey has served on the MADA board of directors and as the group’s chairman from 2008 to 2009. He is currently vice chairman of MADA SIF, the association’s self-insured workers compensation program.
Massey is also passionate about serving his community. He is a sponsor of Mercy House Ministries, a local organization that provides no-cost rehabilitation to men struggling with substance abuse. He also aided employees of a dealership in Florida after Hurricane Michael in 2018, and in 2017 he purchased and helped transport generators to South Carolina for victims of Hurricane Irma.
He is also involved in fundraising events that benefit children and schools, including the annual Walt Massey’s Classic Cruisin’ Car Show, which helps provide Christmas gifts to underprivileged children.