Q&A: Meet Ryan Ragan, New Executive Director of ASTA

Ryan Ragan was appointed as the new Executive Director of the Automotive Service and Tire Alliance in September of 2024. He comes with extensive experience in the non-profit sector across a variety of industries and countries. His experience with driving membership and growing the relevance and service base of associations makes him the ideal person to lead ASTA into the next level of growth.

After meeting Ryan at September’s ASTA Expo, (before he had even officially started in his new role), we wanted to get to know where Ryan sees ASTA in the near future, his goals for the Association, and what his views on the industry are.

Ratchet+Wrench: Ryan, share with us a little bit of your background. Where do you come from? Just a brief little introduction, if you may.

Ryan Ragan: I came from different non-profits. Nothing in the automotive industry. I've worked in biomedical and healthcare, both in Florida and New Jersey. After that I managed international domestic business development for a non-profit health care accreditation program. I also worked overseas in the pharmaceutical space in Italy and some other spots in Europe. Most recently I was the Director of Memberships and Industry Relations for INDA, the Association of the Nonwoven Fabrics Industry. We had a rather large community of members like Kimberly-Clark, Procter & Gamble, and similar companies. My main focus in this role was adding new members and enhancing membership value. I then came across this opportunity at ASTA, I discussed it with my wife, and I'm going to go all in!

Ratchet+Wrench: I know you're still relatively new, but what are those first short-term goals that you see yourself pursuing?

Ragan: Well, we have a few. I need to revamp the website. It needs to be updated and enhanced. I need to increase membership numbers, and within that membership, we need to re-engage the tire side of the organization. We have a sizable number of members from the mechanical side, and there’s nothing wrong with that. I just want to bring the same level of membership and value to the tire side. In fact, I was just in South Carolina at an open house meeting with a lot of the tire dealers, vendors, and other parties that we need to re-engage.

I need to grow our Charlotte market and I need to bring more value. I'm one of those guys that is constantly going to look at what we're offering members, and how we can enhance it. What can we bring on that's new.

Ratchet+Wrench: The ASTA Expo is one of the events of the year, what do you expect for the 2025 edition?

Ragan: The show next year is going to be spectacular. I have no doubt. We're moving to the Raleigh Convention Center, which will allow us to have a much larger space. We're also going to make some changes to the schedule of the trade show floor. This year we basically had the trade show floor open for four hours, just half day. That’s not enough so we will have the show floor open for two days. We're also trying to cut out some exclusive time for owners and decision makers to be on the floor, nobody else. So that these people can have more of a buyer experience where you can actually move products. We're going to enhance the tire side of training at the event as well, so it won't be all on the tech side. I’m looking to beef up and enhance what's already been done.

Ratchet+Wrench: What are your key takeaways from the feedback that people have given you regarding the event?

Ragan: My key takeaway, again, is that we do need to engage the tire side more. However, everyone was very happy with the event, they loved it. As I mentioned, we're trying to grow it and we're moving location. The attendees don't want us to lose that southern charm, that hospitality, as they say. That was also a big takeaway. It doesn't really matter how big the venue is or what we plan, it's how we handle and execute it. It’s about how welcoming our volunteers are, and how we respond to questions and inquiries, and making sure we make people feel at home.

Ratchet+Wrench: We're now in a place where we have so many industry events, some small, and some big ... What do you think will make the event better for next year?

Ragan: We can't be all things to all people. We're not going to be like SEMA or any other very large show. But there are things that we want to do, and we want to enhance some of our offerings. I'm going to reach out and survey our members, show attendees, and even the non-members. We want to ask them what they want “What are they looking for?”; “What are their roadblocks?”; “What are they facing every day?”; “What are their challenges?” This can help us add some additional educational topics, and possibly change up how we create our panels, and designate our speakers. We want to make it a little more interactive, a little more focused.

We had close to 1,000 attendees this year, and looking at next year I'd like to have 1,250 to 1,500 to be quite honest.

I always ask myself if I am bringing value to them and if I can do more. Topics like helping them save costs, growing their businesses, and enhancing their knowledge of how they run their organizations. That's what we're here for, and we'll support anybody, whether you are a member or not, we're supporting the industry.

If you're a member, your support helps us dramatically. But if you aren’t and you approach me with a problem, you're not getting turned away, I'm going to talk to you and try to help you.

Ratchet+Wrench: At Ratchet+Wrench, we constantly monitor and analyze the topics and concerns that we hear from shop owners. We see a keen interest among our readers in everything that has to do with dollars and cents. Are you seeing this on your side as well? Topics like cutting costs, being more efficient, and the financial side of the business in general?

Ragan: We are, and I'll be honest, we're exploring that. We will be looking into some possible education on some of those topics with some of our members that are shop owners. Sometimes for shop owners it just takes a couple of tweaks and you're going to be in the money. Sometimes it's that simple.

There's a lot of private equity out there and that's not bad. I don't shy away from private equity. But to me it's about the industry. There are still going to be techs working in those shops. You're still going to have everything that goes on in a shop, and that's not a private equity concern. We're here to support the people that run their shops. If people want to learn how to sell, or what types of jobs they should be accepting, those are just some of the things that we can help with.

Ratchet+Wrench: What other concerns are you seeing currently? What are your members coming to you with or have you been noticing in your short time like you know where? Where do you see big picture concerns in the industry going?

Ragan: Reputation is one key aspect. I think it's the same as it is almost in any other industry. If you look at Better Business Bureau ratings, you know there's not much lower than the automotive repair industry. Digital inspections have changed a lot of that. I think it's opened a lot of transparency and people can see that, and I believe that's going to help. I think people need to understand what the automotive industry is today. I think they go back to a mechanic of 20 years ago that kind of cheated them on a brake job. You know how those things get, and how they make an impression for life.

Staffing and good staffing is a constant industry issue. As you know we have an apprenticeship program. We're looking to enhance the program and improve upon it, make it better. That's something that's big. If you look at the statistics, about 50% of techs leave after the first two years. This often happens just because the techs get hired in these shops and they are looking to be educated, and yet they get tasked with the menial work and they aren’t ever mentored.

Ratchet+Wrench: During the ASTA Expo we had the unfortunate passing of a devastating hurricane …

Ragan: Unfortunately, the big issue we faced during the event was the hurricane, and the devastation it caused to so many people, and so many shops. And yet we had many fortunate members that avoided the tragedy. We were able to act quickly at the show to raise a considerable amount of money to help the affected shop owners. We took applications for the funds until November 1. And now that money will be distributed directly to the shops. It just shows you what this community and industry are about. When you can raise, in a single night, over $80,000 on the spur of the moment. That's impressive.