June 4, 2021

As someone who has dedicated his career to advocating on behalf of America’s franchised auto dealers, I’ve embraced the reality that one of my chief roles is to serve as Myth Buster In Chief.

Prior to the coronavirus pandemic of 2020, exponential digital transformation was the biggest disruption many organizations and leaders within those organizations concerned themselves with. Will artificial intelligence (A.I.) take my job? Will machine learning make our entire operation irrelevant? Is there something on the horizon that will change our industry, and how can we be the ones to discover it?

Chris Hemmersmeier graduated from St. Louis University High in 1984. The school is located in St. Louis, Missouri. Chris said, “My parents sacrificed a lot to be able to send me to a really good high school, where I was surrounded by other students and teachers who challenged me to grow. That journey continued at college, where I was exposed to an even wider variety of learning opportunities.” He earned a B.S. in computer engineering from Northwestern University in 1988. By 1991, he had plans to go to law school. (The engineering degree was a pragmatic choice: Chris didn’t love engineering, but he knew an engineering degree could get him a job.)

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit over a year ago, the slow march by some dealerships to conduct more business digitally suddenly turned into a full-on sprint. Up to that point, the retail “disruptors” had driven speculation that showroom visits and face-to-face conversations would soon be replaced with keyboard clicks.

As the first quarter of 2021 ends, the end of the pandemic is beginning to look like it might be closer than anyone thought as recently as January. A new president is in the White House, three vaccines have been approved for use, and medical professionals throughout the nation are getting those vaccines into people at an accelerating rate. The country is moving closer to herd immunity every day. As a result, analysts and industry executives expect strong demand as the economy stabilizes. Early forecasts predict vehicle sales between 15.6 million and 16 million.

When Natalie Gochnour worked with Mike Leavitt at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, she learned a thing or two about pandemics several years ago. The most important? They end, and this one will too.

With the FDA’s issuance of an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for multiple COVID-19 vaccines and vaccines becoming more widely available, many U.S. employers, eager to safely transition employees back to work or transition workplaces back to normal, are considering implementing vaccine recommendations or mandates in the workplace. The fluidity of the pandemic has yielded yet another decision point for employers — can employees be required to obtain a COVID-19 vaccine as a condition of employment?

Everyone has been busy recently, and as we welcome the warmer days of spring and watch the COVID vaccine begin to make a much-needed change, I can’t help but feel positive about the future.