Portland Dealer Greg Rasmussen Wins National Recognition for Community Service and Industry Accomplishments at NADA Convention

    PORTLAND, OR, January 18, 2010 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Rasmussen was one of a select group of dealers from across the country honored at the 93rd annual National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) Convention & Exposition in Orlando today. The announcement of this year's Dealer of the Year and finalists was made by Mark Ford, President and Group Publisher of TIME Magazine, and Johann Finkelmeier, Vice President & General Manager - Original Equipment N.A. Consumer Tire, The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, at the formal opening of the convention, which is attended by more than 25,000 individuals involved in the automobile industry.

The TIME Magazine Dealer of the Year award is one of the automobile industry's most prestigious and highly coveted awards for new-car dealers. Recipients are among the nation's most successful auto dealers, but they must also demonstrate a long-standing commitment to effective community service.

Rasmussen, 65, was chosen to represent the Oregon Automobile Dealers Association in the national competition--one of only 45 automobile dealers, from 17,000 nationwide, nominated for the 41st annual award. The award is sponsored by TIME Magazine in association with Goodyear, and in cooperation with NADA. A panel of faculty members from the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan selects one finalist from each of the four NADA regions and one national Dealer of the Year.

"I grew up around the family business," says Rasmussen, "washing cars at age 14, working in Parts and Service during summers all through my high school years." Rasmussen graduated from Sunset High School in Beaverton, OR, in 1962, and then earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from the University of Oregon in Eugene in 1967. During college summers, he worked in his family's New and Used Car Sales departments, but the Vietnam War kept Rasmussen from heading into the family business right after college. He was on active duty with the U.S. Naval Reserve in 1968-'69, serving in Vietnam with the Seabees from December '68 to December '69.

Following his return that month and his military discharge, Rasmussen started working fuiltime at the Don Rasmussen Company in sales and management, and he's been there ever since. He worked for nearly four decades side by side with his father and brother until their passing in 2006 and 2007, respectively.

The Don Rasmussen Company was born in 1950 with the Rasmussen Studebaker dealership on West Burnside in Portland. As the popularity of Studebaker began to wane in the late 1 950s, Don Rasmussen Sr. established the first Mercedes dealership in the U.S. in 1957. "We added BMW in 1971, Land Rover in 1987 and MINI in 2002," says Rasmussen, "I became president of Don Rasmussen Company in 1992."

In the area of community service, Rasmussen has a distinguished track record, having donated regularly to the following organizations: Shepherd's Door, the Portland Art Museum, the Special Olympics, the High Desert Museum, the Jewish Federation, Susan G. Komen Cancer Foundation, University of Oregon and Little League Baseball. "Our most important civic achievement is our support of Shepherd's Door," says Rasmussen.

Shepherd's Door is the woman's affiliate of the Portland Rescue Mission. It provides shelter and job skill training to homeless and battered women and their children. "Since 2001," says Rasmussen, "it has become the main focus of our contributions, totaling over $800,000 - not only do we make a financial contribution of $25 for every car sold, our employees take an active role." His employees read once a week to Shepherd's Door children in a program dubbed, Rasmussen Readers. "The employees also show their support by holding a Christmas party each year for the mothers and their children," says Rasmussen.

Greg Rasmussen was nominated for the TIME Magazine Dealer of the Year award by Greg Remensperger, Executive Vice President of the Oregon Automobile Dealers Association.

Mercedes-Benz of Portland and Mercedes-Benz of Wilsonville are part of the Don Rasmussen Company that represents Mercedes, BMW, Mini and Land Rover. The first Mercedes dealership in the US has marked over 60 years of serving Portland's luxury car needs.

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