Outstanding Leadership Award in Honor of Jack Creamer

Outstanding Leadership Award in Honor of Jack Creamer (formerly the Jack Creamer Automotive Leader of the Year Award)

This annual award recognizes an individual, employed in the aftermarket, who over the past several years, has made a unique and monumental contribution to the industry and/or the association. The accomplishment that warrants this award must go well above and beyond any routine or day-to-day activity and shall be reflective of a commitment to the industry that few individuals can match. This award is to be perceived as the industry's highest honor/recognition. Award winners need not be AWDA members.

2022 RECIPIENTS

The Automotive Warehouse Distributors Association (AWDA), a community of the Auto Care Association, presented its 2022 Outstanding Leadership Award to Larry Northup, Auto Care Association (retired).

During his more than 20 years at the Auto Care Association, Larry Northup was a dedicated champion for the aftermarket. In his latest role as the AWDA executive director, Northup worked to encourage and support the re-establishment of the AWDA community’s decades-long tradition of leadership within the industry.

Since 2004, Northup’s efforts for the AWDA community included the integration of AWDA members into all aspects of the Auto Care Association’s leadership, including the board of directors; committees; task forces; the association’s political action committee; special projects like career promotion, Right to Repair, the University of the Aftermarket Foundation; and many other aftermarket industry advocacy efforts. He was also key to bringing the annual AWDA conference into the fold as part of Industry Week every year in Las Vegas. In addition, Larry’s advocacy during the pandemic helped establish the auto care industry as an essential service throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

Prior to his role as executive director of AWDA, Northup served as a lobbyist for the association’s government affairs department and as the staff liaison for the Paint, Body and Equipment Specialists (PBES) community. He served as the head of the association’s membership department, where he was tasked with managing AWDA’s integration into the Auto Care Association as a community. Northup also managed the association’s community engagement efforts for several years, eventually becoming the full-time executive director of AWDA.

“I had the good fortune of working with Larry for many years,” said 2021 recipient Roger McCollum of N.A. Williams. “I knew of few people more dedicated to this industry, especially when it came to his involvement with warehouse distributors and AWDA. Larry worked with a passion that was contagious and made those around him better for knowing him and working with him. He deserves all the best in retirement – and this industry will not be the same without him.”