Truck Dealer Of The Year 2002
Edward A. Kyrish
President
International Trucks of Houston
Houston, Texas
International, Mitsubishi Fuso, American Transportation, Crane Carrier
"As a branch manager, I learned how difficult it is to replace a lost customer, and as a dealer I will got to any lengths to keep one."
Kyrish learned a lot about customer satisfaction from his father, who owned a retail grocery business in a small town where he had limited capital and much larger competitors.
He started working for International Harvester in the 1950s. In 1976, he bought a small IH dealer in Austin, Texas. In 1982 he opened a location in San Antonio. In 1987, Navistar International asked him to take over the Houston location, which he turned around. He trained his sons to run the first two dealerships while he concentrated his efforts in Houston.
Today Kyrish has 10 locations, five of them in Houston, including separate lease/rental facilities. In addition to the focus on customer service, success has been realized with an aggressive parts and service business, with 24 Diamond Connection units at customer locations and seven mobile service units in Houston. He has targeted vocational businesses with long-term potential, such as the oil field business, school buses, construction, and private fleets including beverage delivery. In addition, Kyrish's dealerships embraced the movement away from traditional ownership to leasing early on.
Kyrish's dealerships have won numerous awards from International, including Dealer of the Year for the Austin location in 2000. International's Circle of Excellence has gone to the Austin location for 19 years in a row through 2000, 10 times to the San Antonio location since 1982, and four times to the Houston location since 1995. The Houston location also has been honored as Distributor of the Year by Thomas Built Buses and for Outstanding Achievement by Mitsubishi-Fuso.
"I did not just nominate Ed because he is successful. There are lots of dealers who are successful," said Dick Sweebe, president of Mid-America International Trucks in Memphis, Tenn., who nominated Kyrish. "I nominated him because he helps other people be successful. Dealers, manager, friends, vendors and manufacturers, Ed makes time for whomever needs it."
Return to Main Story
More Dealer of the Year
Marshall Cymbaluk
John P. Niebauer Jr.
Terry C. Young
Past Dealers of the Year
Nominess
