Ambassador Spotlight: Cliff Hovis

by Tod Moore

The Auto Care Association honors members whose actions demonstrate a commitment to advocacy by inducting them into the Auto Care Ambassador program. This past September, one of the members that joined this prestigious group was Cliff Hovis of Hovis Auto & Truck Supply. “I know if I need to connect with a legislator in Pennsylvania, I can always count on Cliff to skillfully represent our members’ perspectives in a meeting or even rally his employees and customers to take action on a campaign. His commitment to growing our influence on Capitol Hill is priceless,” says Gabrielle Hopkins, vice president of federal affairs at the Auto Care Association.Here are some examples of how Cliff has become a shining star in our advocacy program.

Investing in Our Industry Through ACPAC

A contribution to the Auto Care Association’s political action committee is an investment in our industry. It is a tool that allows our lobbyists to connect with legislators and compete with our powerful opponents on Capitol Hill. Cliff is one of only 18 people who have made a generous commitment to protecting our industry by donating the maximum amount allowed, $5,000. Additionally, he regularly spreads the word to his industry peers on why contributions to ACPAC are critical. This peer-to-peer effort Cliff does is extremely valuable as we try to grow our $200,000-a-year pac to compete with our competitors’ pacs, which are in the millions.

I always think that if something needs to be done, it needs to start with me.
Cliff Hovis, Hovis Auto & Truck Supply

Connecting with Pennsylvania Legislators

Cliff continues to engage with his Pennsylvania legislators on multiple fronts. For example, this year he attended a Washington, DC fundraiser for Rep. Mike Kelly (R-PA-16) with our Auto Care lobbyists. At this fundraiser he had the opportunity to talk about the importance of right to repair and he invited Rep. Kelly to tour his business. Which he did on October 6th. A few weeks after the tour, Cliff participated in a virtual meeting with Rep. Kelly’s DC policy staffer and Gabrielle Hopkins, vice president of federal affairs, to do a deeper dive on our efforts to pass federal right to repair legislation. This multi-faceted approach to building a relationship with his legislator is a perfect example of how Cliff has become an effective advocate.

Building a Grassroots Program for His Company and its Sponsors

After Bill Hanvey’s call to action at Fall Leadership Days, Cliff not only emailed his legislators on right to repair, but he tasked his staff with creating a program to engage Hovis Auto & Truck Supply’s customers in the movement. The Auto Care Association created a customized advocacy webpage where his customers could email their legislators on the issue. And Hovis developed unique advocacy materials to share with his customers on how right to repair affects their business and a QR code with a link to his customized website. To date, over 175 customers have taken action on right to repair via Cliff’s customized advocacy webpage.

For more information about how you can get involved in advocacy, please email Tod Moore, manager of grassroots advocacy.

About section background | Auto Care Association

Mike Chung

is director, market intelligence at Auto Care Association. With more than a dozen years of experience in market research, Chung provides the industry with timely information on key factors and trends influencing the health of the automotive aftermarket to help businesses throughout the supply chain make better business decisions. Chung has earned degrees in chemical engineering, environmental health, and business administration. He can be reached at michael.chung@autocare.org.

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