APPLY TODAY FOR NEW CLASS SCHEDULED TO BEGIN IN JULY

The charter class of NADA's Dealer Executive Education partnership with Babson College, located outside Boston, is slated to graduate in July. The new MBA-like program focuses on leadership, management and entrepreneurship and offers dealers and managers information to help survive the current challenging times.

“Based on what's going on with the economy right now, the Babson program has prepared me,” says Chris Zammito, co-owner of Zammito Automotive in Dartmouth, Mass. “You have to react to what's going on. What you're doing today may not be what you have to do three months from now. It's happening that quickly.”

Babson is a leading provider of executive education and management-development programs. Its MBA program has been ranked No. 1 in entrepreneurship for 13 consecutive years by U.S. News & World Report.

“I am really impressed with the quality of the professors who we've been able to work with,” says Christine Caron, general manager of Honda Village in Newton, Mass. “Babson has really come to the table and offered up the 'best of the best.' It's such an entrepreneurial think tank, that it's really been a tremendous gift to ... learn from them.”

The charter class began in March 2008. Students have completed five of the six one-week sessions, which are spaced about three months apart and are held on the campus of the Executive Education Center at Babson College in Wellesley, Mass. Upon completion of the sixth session in July, the students will become the program's first graduating class. NADA is now accepting applications for the next class which is set to begin in July.

“I highly recommend [Babson] to anyone in the industry who wants to find out a little more about themselves ... and bring in some fresh ideas,” Zammito says. “And really bring their business to the next level.”