Burns praised Heathcott for his passionate leadership of JM&A and for “always staying steps ahead in the F&I industry.”
Heathcott, in turn, gave credit to his JM&A co-workers.
“They are constantly finding ways to do it better for our dealers and increase our market share and penetration, something we have been able to do each year,” he said.
Heathcott said he is looking forward to taking a step back but will remain engaged as a coach and mentor and through his local chamber of commerce.
He also plans to continue jamming with JM Family employees as a guitarist in a company band called The Associates, which plays gigs to raise money for charity.
On the “Daily Drive” podcast in May, Heathcott discussed launching JM&A’s Virtual F&I Program process and digital training initiatives — two programs that situated the company to steer through the pandemic environment. He called it “one of the most fun things I’ve done in my career with the team.”
JM&A did a “judo flip,” Heathcott said, by taking something “that we were going to pilot and test the fire out of and determine it was ready to go and turn it over to dealers at a time when the need would be the greatest that it’s ever been in history. That’s been a big step for us.”
Also on the podcast, he talked about how he never thought JM Family Enterprises “could become a virtual company overnight, and we did.
“And I don’t think a lot of dealers thought they could have done what they’ve done, and they did it,” he said. “I think it’s given them a lot of energy to change and be strategic. If there’s a silver lining in this cloud, that’s it.”
Editors note: Dan Chait’s age was misstated in an initial version of this story. He is 53.
