Our FenderBender Award has been a highly anticipated yearly feature for over 15 years. Each year, we select an owner, operator, or CEO who puts in the work, dedication, care, and taking care of his or her customers and deserves some recogntion for his or her efforts.
For the 2025 award, we selected Jon Sommers, body shop director of Winner Automotive Group, with shops in Wilmington and Dover, Delaware. He rose from being a mechanical repair techncian at the Winner Premier Collision Center in Wilmington to take over as manager at that shop to turn it around about three and a half years ago. This year, he was tasked with also improving operations at the Dover location and was named director.
Thomas Mihok, executive general manager of Winner Automotive Group, nominated him for the honor.
"It is because he is passionate about the industry that he stays so engaged," Mihok said.
Last year for the first time, we wanted to also recognize those individuals who perform at a higher level in capturing all required repair procedures, including scanning and calibrations, for our Best Repair Planner/Estimator Award from FenderBender and ABRN. As was the case last year, it was difficult for our panel to select finalists from the nominations and the final estimate exercise, designed and judged by Mike Anderson and his staff at Collision Advice.
When the dust settled, one clear winner emerged. Will Barkley, production manager at K&M Collision in Hickory, North Carolina, is charged with repair planning for some of the most complex repairs on some of the most sophisticated vehicles.
We will be presenting the awards at the Collision Industry Red Carpet Awards ceremony at the SEMA Show in November.
I want to thank sponsors of both our awards, and especially for our Best Repair Planner/Estimator Award: Ford and PPG, with a special thanks to Mike Anderson and his staff at Collision Advice, without whom we would not have been able to include the critical estimate exercise component.
For all who took the time to nominate someone for either award, thank you. We don't take lightly the task of selecting finalists and the winner. If you nominated someone this year, I encourage you to try again next year. We hope to see another flood of entries next spring.
About the Author
Jay Sicht
Editor-in-Chief, FenderBender and ABRN
Jay Sicht is editor-in-chief of FenderBender and ABRN. He has worked in the automotive aftermarket for more than 29 years, including in a number of sales and technical support roles in paint/parts distribution and service/repair. He has a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Central Missouri with a minor in aviation, and as a writer and editor, he has covered all segments of the automotive aftermarket for more than 20 of those years, including formerly serving as editor-in-chief of Motor Age and Aftermarket Business World. Connect with him on LinkedIn.
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