Executives & Consultants
DAG's senior management team includes professionals who have been recognized as industry leaders in the automotive industries. Their experience includes a continuous dedication and passion to improve and deliver the highest quality professional practices.
- Fred Dellis
- Peter Fong
- Chris Theodore
- John Dinkel
- John J. Scelfo
- Donald G. Heditsian
- William E. Prior
- Martin Karo, Esq.
Fred Dellis
Mr. Dellis has extensive automotive credentials at both the corporate and retail executive management level. Mr. Dellis is the founder and CEO of Dellis Automotive Group (DAG). DAG specializes in import distribution structure, strategic planning, brand development, franchise dealer development, engineering, product planning, and joint ventures. DAG consults at the CEO and President level with a partial client list that includes Hachette Magazines, Sony, Sirius Satellite Radio, Car and Driver and Road & Track magazines, Toyota Dealer advertising Groups, and Car Max. Mr. Dellis was the founder and CEO of Legend Industries, an automotive engineering and marketing company. Legend products and patents received rave reviews by the International Motoring Press. Legend's clients included Fiat N.A., Ferrari N.A, and DeLorean Motor Company. Mr. Dellis successfully owned Porsche, Audi, BMW, Fiat, Ford Car, and Ford Heavy Truck dealerships and chaired both Porsche, and Audi Dealer Councils. Mr. Dellis was a Heavy Truck Engineer and Manager of Truck Retail Operations at Ford Motor Company. At White Motor Company, Mr. Dellis was a Construction Application Engineering Specialist, followed by a position as a National Accounts Manager.
Peter Fong
Peter Fong is the former President and Chief Executive Officer of the Chrysler Brand for Chrysler Group LLC. In 2009, Mr. Fong was personally selected by CEO Sergio Marchionne as one of four brand CEOs to rebuild the Chrysler Brand and as lead Executive for U.S. Sales. He completely overhauled the Chrysler brand portfolio less than four months. One of Mr. Fong’s most recognizable recovery plans was the extremely successful “Cash for Clunkers” program, which delivered 125+% of sales objective for two consecutive months post-bankruptcy. He introduced four product upgrades, four new Fiat-based entries, and reinvented a fresh, contemporary DNA for the Chrysler brand. Peter authored an aggressive five-year plan that gained approval from the U.S. Treasury and Chrysler Group’s Board of Directors, which is forecasted to increase sales and market share 50% by 2014.
Prior to serving as President, Peter was recruited to stabilize operational efficiencies for Chrysler LLC’s Mid-Atlantic Business center, where he earned recognition as the “#1 Performing Business Center Director.” Peter revitalized a region compromised of 427 dealers in 6 states. He was selected to accompany the Chrysler President and Vice Chairman on Capitol Hill for Congressional/Senate Leader meetings and prepare him for testifying before the U.S. Senate Committee regarding dealership closings.
In 1994, Peter was recruited by Ford Motor Company, where he spent a 14 year career. His diverse career at Ford expanded across marketing, sales, brand management and service leadership positions supporting the Ford, Jaguar and Lincoln-Mercury brands. His most current positions at Ford included Mid-Atlantic Regional Sales manager and Regional Sales manager of the Philadelphia Region for Ford & Lincoln-Mercury. Mr. Fong held P&L accountability for $1.0B in variable profits which supported $100m in franchise dealer profits. He was a graduate of Ford Motor Company’s elite Marketing Leadership Program and received the “1999 Automotive Hall of Fame Young Leadership & Excellence Award.”
Peter served as a Naval Aviator (Sikorsky SH-60B helicopter), Instructor and Test Pilot in the U.S. Navy from 1986 to 1994.
Chris Theodore
Lead by President, Chris P. Theodore, former Vice President of Engineering at Ford Motor Company and Chrysler Corporation, Theodore and Associates LLC specializes in the transportation industry. Theodore and Associates LLC provides consulting services for Product Development, Technology Assessment, Strategic Planning, Program Management, and Due Diligence in M and A activities. In the past, Mr. Theodore has led such successful programs as the Ford GT, Ford Mustang, PT Cruiser and Chrysler Minivans. Together with his associates, they provide over 200 years experience in the industry, covering Manufacturing, Engineering, Finance, Purchasing, and Sales, Credit and Distribution disciplines.
John Dinkel
John Dinkel earned BS and MS degrees in mechanical engineering from the University of Michigan and is an automotive industry expert with over 30 years experience. His areas of expertise include engineering, journalism, testing and analysis, product development, product planning, advertising, marketing and public relations. Most recently he has been a consultant to privately-held companies specializing in the commercialization of alternative automotive powertrain vehicles/technologies and the importation of Chinese vehicles into North America.
He was a competitive race driver for the Bakeracing Corvette team (two SCCA Championships), worked directly with Goodyear in the development of the Gatorback tire for showroom stock racing and developed the first computerized road testing equipment in the automotive industry. Dinkel was Editor of Road & Track, one of the most popular consumer automobile magazines in America, developed some of the earliest Internet-based automotive material and helped create an automotive website. Dinkel is author of the Road & Track Illustrated Automotive Dictionary and has written three books on Mazda and a comprehensive history of Toyota. He is a member of SAE, SCCA, Road Racing Drivers Club and the Motor Press Guild, serving as this organization's president in 1991.
John J. Scelfo
John J. Scelfo is Senior Vice President of Finance and Corporate Development for a major global, integrated energy corporation, and is a member of its leadership team. He has responsibility for the company's treasury, strategy, planning, supply chain and upstream commercial activities.
Scelfo spent 20 years with Mobil Oil where he progressed through various financial leadership positions to become chief financial officer of the Asia Pacific region and the company's largest overseas operations, which were based in Japan. He later became vice president of Global Risk Management, which included leadership of worldwide derivative trading and corporate assistant treasurer. During his tenure with Mobil, he spent more than 13 years overseas in Tokyo, Singapore and Jakarta.
In 1991, Scelfo joined Dell Computer in Singapore as its vice president and chief financial officer for Asia operations. Two years later, he became executive vice president and chief financial officer for Sirius Satellite Radio where he was instrumental in many aspects of the company's launch, including raising capital and restructuring its balance sheet.
Scelfo holds a bachelor's degree and an MBA from Cornell University.
Donald G. Heditsian
Don has served as a senior executive and advisor at several publicly traded companies within the Auto Industry. These include senior positions held in sales, marketing and finance for VW AG's North American operations. Don also served as a special consultant to VW Group of America's EVP, advising senior management and serving as primary U.S. liaison to Volkswagen AG's Transparent Factory in Dresden.
As VP of Sales and Marketing at Ferrari North America, he was responsible for several areas of the business including sales, marketing, network development and motorsports. Don was instrumental in successfully guiding Ferrari through a difficult and uncertain post 9/11 economy. In his role as National Sales Manager at Lotus Cars USA, he was credited with rejuvenating a brand in crisis through a much needed restructuring and the importation of innovative new products.
Prior to joining the VW Group, Don spent five years learning the Auto Industry from the ground up through various retail sales and management roles representing brands such as Alfa Romeo, Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Porsche. Mr. Heditsian holds a BA in Business and Organization Communication from the University of Rhode Island. He served as President of that University's Entrepreneur's Club and was Co-Founder of the University's Speech Communication Laboratory.
William E. Prior
Mr. Prior has extensive senior management expertise in motor vehicle distribution, retail automotive operations, dealer development, and brand building. He is currently Chief Executive Officer of Innova Automotive, Inc., a new generation automobile importer and industry consulting company. For a period spanning 16 years, he has served as President and Chief Operating Officer of several start-up automotive importers and car distributors, including Subaru Distributors Corp., Subaru East, Inc., International Automobile Importers, and Global Motors. Mr. Prior was also Executive Vice-President and investor in AutoFair Automotive Group, one of the national's largest dealership groups, and Senior Vice-President of Sales and Retail Operations for CarDay, Inc. He has provided hands-on management consulting services to numerous automotive clients, including wholesale, retail, marketing, and financial services. He has authored numerous publications and industry research. Recognition of Mr. Prior's contributions include Automotive News "All-Star Team", Fortune Magazine "People to Watch", CNN "Executive to Watch", guest speaker at Automotive News World Congress, and guest lecturer at Carnegie Mellon Graduate School of Industrial Administration.
Martin Karo, Esq.
Bringing twenty years of highly successful experience and accomplishment in the legal and automotive arenas, for the past fourteen years, Martin has provided some of the nation's largest businesses with corporate counsel and legal defense. A specialist in complex litigation over multifaceted business transactions or product liability issues, Mr. Karo has to his credit numerous class action victories, including a significant Texas matter involving automotive total loss estimating practices, and he successfully defended a class action antitrust matter all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
In the business arena, Mr. Karo has represented corporations in regulatory and compliance matters, a European Union/British tax claim heard in the Royal Courts of Justice in London, and contract dispute arbitrations from Brazil to the Arctic Circle. His automotive-related clients have included four major automobile manufacturers, two tire makers, six component manufacturers, and the world's largest airbag manufacturer. Prior to this practice, Mr. Karo worked for General Motors in the Office of the General Counsel, handling breach of warranty, product liability, and defective design issues regionally and nationwide. Mr. Karo is a magna cum laude graduate of Princeton University and the University of Michigan Law School.
