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State's Auto Dealers' Association Names New Top Executive to Manage Organization

1 September 1999

State's Auto Dealers' Association Names New Top Executive to Manage Organization

    ST. PAUL, Minn., Sept. 1 -- The Minnesota Auto Dealers
Association (MADA), an organization with roots in Minnesota dating back 80
years, today announced the appointment of a new executive vice president.
Scott Lambert, 39, a veteran association executive who has been with MADA for
the past 11 years, will be directly responsible to the organization's board of
directors for full operation of the trade association, which represents all of
the franchised new car dealers in the state of Minnesota, and the
association's subsidiaries and affiliated organizations.
    Lambert, who directed the MADA's highly-successful governmental relations
efforts for the past decade, came to the auto dealers' association from a
similar position with the Minnesota Grocers Associate and the Minnesota Agri-
Growth Council.  A native of Saint Paul, Lambert has a long history of high-
level political involvement including time spent working with and on behalf of
former Minnesota Congressman Bill Frenzel.
    The board's appointment of Lambert coincides with the retirement of the
MADA's seasoned former executive vice president Louis W. Claeson, who has been
with the MADA for almost a quarter of a century.  Claeson, who spent the last
seven years in the association's top post, is retiring to private law
practice.
    Marv Spomer, owner of Spomer Motors in Worthington, Minnesota and
President of the Minnesota Auto Dealers Association took special note of some
of Lambert's qualities:  "Few organizations as large and as complex as the
auto dealers association have the luxury of being able to turn to a highly-
trained successor when they lose a person with the history and experience of
Louis Claeson to retirement," Spomer said.
    The Minnesota Auto Dealers Association represents all 480 franchised new
car dealers operating in the state of Minnesota.  The association provides its
members with a wide range of legal, lobbying and educational services.  In
addition, the MADA's affiliated companies provide Workers Compensation, Group
Health and other insurance coverage needs, as well as other services needed in
the operation of the new and used car business.
    The association was first established in Minnesota in 1919.