MSO Symposium

Matt Ebert is the visionary founder and Chief Executive Officer of Crash Champions. A passionate entrepreneur, Ebert founded the company in 1999 as a single local repair center serving New Lenox, IL, and has overseen the rapid expansion of the brand into the third-largest multi-shop collision repair operator (MSO) in the U.S.

Today, Crash Champions serves customers at more than 600 locations in 36 states as the largest founder-led MSO in the U.S. Under his leadership, the organization has attracted capital interest from some of the world’s leading private equity firms, including a recent investment by Clearlake Capital Group in 2022.

Since founding the company as New Lenox Auto Body and rebranding to Crash Champions in 2014, Ebert has remained steadfast in building a fiercely independent company that promotes ownership and opportunity for its team members and operators.

In 2022, Crash Champions rapidly accelerated its growth, adding more than 400 locations – including the historic acquisition of Service King Collision and its more than 300 locations. That same year, Ebert was named the MSO Executive of the Year by leading industry publication Bodyshop Business. In 2023, Ebert went on to be named a Midwest winner of the coveted Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award.

Ebert is passionate about building the industry’s Employer of Choice and has implemented several innovative internal programs to promote a dynamic culture, team member success, and professional development.

He is married to his wife, Mandi, and together they have two children.

Dan is the Vice President of Quality Repair and Market Development for CCC Intelligent Solutions.  He has spent the past 30 years working in the collision repair industry. He began working in a family owned and operated collision repair facility in Chicago, Illinois. Upon leaving the family business, he began his career in the industry by working as a refinish sales and service representative for BASF and later as a project manager for CCC Information Services. He spent 8 years as the President of the Society of Collision Repair Specialists (SCRS) and most recently, the past 5 years as the President of the Automotive Service Association (ASA).

In his current role, he works closely with the collision repair industry and the car manufacturers to better understand their needs to ensure CCC delivers products and services to meet their changing needs as it relates to things such as repair quality, certified collision repair programs and parts.

Dan’s has participated on many board and committees over his career including:  Collision Industry Electronic Commerce Association (CIECA) board member, Collision Industry Conference (CIC) Database Task Force co-chair, CIC Data Access, Privacy & Security Committee co-chair, Collision Industry Foundation (CIF) board member, Automotive Management Institute (AMI) board member, Certified Aftermarket Parts Association (CAPA) technical committee, Aftermarket Telematics Task Force member, NSF Repair Standard advisory board, Database Enhancement Gateway (DEG) board member,  State Farm Advisory Council, Taiwan Aftermarket Parts Task Force and National Auto Body Council (NABC) board member.

Darrell Amberson has over 40 years of experience in the auto repair industry and has been involved in collision industry events and served in a number of volunteer roles, including a number of advisory councils and committees. He is the immediate past chairman of the Collision Industry Conference (CIC). He is the recipient of the ASA Phoenix Award, the ABRN Leadership Award, the Russ Verona Scholarship, and was inducted in the Hall of Eagles in 2009. He is currently President of Operations at LaMettry’s Collision.

Mike Anderson is a former multi shop owner, based out of Alexandria, Virginia. Mike’s shops had multiple OEM certifications, including Audi, VW, Porsche, Nissan GTR and many others. In addition, his staff was Toyota and BMW factory trained as at that time a Collision Repair facility could not be certified unless owned by a dealership.
Mike is an Accredited Master Automotive Manager (AMAM) through The Automotive Management Institute (AMi). He also participates in the development of the Collision ASE testing for technicians and estimators in the USA. Mike also is fully certified in all Collision categories for ASE. Mike has presented to groups across North America as well as Canada, Mexico and Australia. Mike travels on average over 300 days a year working with all stake holders in the Collision Repair Industry. Collision Advice facilitates 20 groups called the Spartan 300 for OEM certified shops. In addition Collision Advice has been selected by several OEM’s to provide their factory training in regards to Estimating, Scanning and Calibrations to include Porsche, Toyota, Lexus, Nissan, Infiniti, Honda and Acura. Participants in Mike Anderson’s seminars consistently rate them as exceeding their expectations and highly recommend his seminars to others. Mike also produces a quarterly summary of the latest trends and statistics in the US for the Collision Industry, as well as conducts quarterly surveys of over 28,000 Collision Repair Professionals in regards to Insurer reimbursement. These surveys are called, “Who Pays for What” Speaking with passion as well as firsthand experience, Mike will not only teach you cutting edge management techniques, but he is guaranteed to leave you laughing as well.

Ryan Clark is the current Vice-President of Eustis Body Shop. Eustis is currently a six shop MSO in Nebraska that started in Eustis, Nebraska, in 1979. Ryan’s path to the auto body repair industry is an unconventional one. After college, Ryan spent five years as a certified histologist. After those five years in the science field, he decided to pivot and join the family business. He began as most in the business, starting in the detail bay, and worked his way up learning all of the aspects of the field. In doing so, he obtained his MBA, all while a new shop opened up in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Ryan and the Eustis team are dedicated to fixing vehicles the way the manufacturers dictate, ensuring a quality product for their customers. This has created an environment where the employees are proud of the work they do, and proud to wear the logo on their chest. Ryan is active in the collision field and is constantly doing youth outreach at various high schools and trade schools across the state. He is currently the Vice-Chair of the Nebraska Auto Body Association board, which includes almost 100 shops across the state of Nebraska. He is diligent in trying to get legislation passed in the state that protects the consumer’s rights in collision repair and is hoping to continue educating the public about a proper and safe repair. Ryan is a proud Master Graduate of the Discover Leadership Training and uses this experience and training in the Eustis Body Shop family. Eustis Body Shop has a growth mindset, as they continue to explore different expansion opportunities.

Richard Elberger is Senior Manager Software Defined Vehicle at Amazon Web Services (AWS). Richard focuses on building services that derive value from automotive IoT data. Prior to his current role, Richard was Technologist and Solutions Architect at AWS, owned and operated a multinational consulting firm for eight years, and held management roles at EMC and Microsoft. Richard holds an MBA from University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

Over his more than twenty-five year career in corporate finance, Mr. Green has advised on hundreds of transactions, including divestitures, acquisitions, private placements, public offerings, recapitalizations, management buyouts and debt restructurings across a broad spectrum of industries. Prior to joining Jefferies, Mr. Green was with BB&T Capital Markets for nearly eleven years where he was a Managing Director. Prior to that Mr. Green spent a decade at Advest, Inc., where during various periods he served as Co-Head of Investment Banking, Head of Consumer Investment Banking (inclusive of the automotive aftermarket) and Head of Technology Investment Banking. Mr. Green was previously Partner-In-Charge of corporate finance for the New England region of KPMG Peat Marwick LLP. Over the past twenty years, while focusing almost exclusively on the automotive aftermarket, Mr. Green has had the great pleasure of working closely with some of the leading companies in the collision ecosystem globally including Caliber, Boyd/Gerber, Service King, Driven Brands, CCC, Mitchell, LKQ, Cary Group, Dent Wizard, Car-o-Liner and many others). Mr. Green received his MBA from The Stern School at New York University and his Bachelor of Arts from Brown University.

Darren Huggins, National Collision Center Director with Berkshire Hathaway Automotive, oversees 32 collision centers from California to Florida with annual sales exceeding $230 million.  In his seventeen years leading the Berkshire Hathaway Automotive Group his team has delivered fifteen consecutive years of same store record sales growth, more than doubling the networks business from $85 Million in 2007. Based on Lean Manufacturing principles he developed and implemented the Van Tuyl Advanced Production System (VTAPS). The team has transformed the network to focus on Operational Excellence and accelerated profitable growth. Each year Darren facilitates two performance group meetings with his team, including managers and key stakeholders, to drive change, consistency, sustainability and challenge his team to reach world-class performance.

Darren joined the Berkshire Hathaway Automotive Group 15 years ago from Huffines Auto Group in Lewisville, Texas where he was the Body Shop Manager for 20 years.  During his time with Huffines he grew the business from $40,000 per month to a record of $1,250,000 in total sales to become one of the first domestic collision centers in the nation to eclipse the $1 million dollar barrier for total sales in one month.  Furthermore, Huffines was number one in the “Wards Dealer Business” top 500 collision center list multiple times; and in the top 10 for ten years in a row. 

Darren is based in North Texas where he lives with his wife Paula.  Darren graduated from University of North Texas with a bachelor’s degree in real estate and finance. Darren is a servant leader with a passion to achieve excellence every day.

Darren joined the Berkshire Hathaway Automotive Group 14 years ago from Huffines Auto Group in Lewisville, Texas where he was the Body Shop Manager for 20 years.  During his time with Huffines he grew the business from $40,000 per month to a record of $1,250,000 in total sales to become one of the first domestic collision centers in the nation to eclipse the $1 million dollar barrier for total sales in one month.  Furthermore, Huffines was number one in the “Wards Dealer Business” top 500 collision center list multiple times; and in the top 10 for ten years in a row. 

Darren is based in North Texas where he lives with his wife Paula.  Darren graduated from University of North Texas with a bachelor’s degree in Real Estate and Finance. Darren is a servant leader with a passion to achieve excellence every day.

Casey Lund is the owner of Collision Leaders (formerly Warrensburg Collision), an eight shop MSO located in Missouri and Kansas. Lund was thrust into the family body shop business in 2004 when his father had a heart transplant. Frustrated with the industry, he drew a line in the sand in 2012, the business was either going to have to be drastically different or he was going to have to move on. Since then, Lund has transformed the culture of the shop, engaged employees to help transform the business, incorporated lean practices and began working on earning multiple OEM certifications. The streamlined processes have allowed the business to grow tenfold within the same four walls at the original store and is something business leaders from around the country bring their teams to see. Collision Leaders has been recognized for their successes and included in Ingram’s Magazine’s Corporate 100 as one of the KC Area’s Fastest Growing Companies five times (2014, 2015, 2016, 2021, and 2023), by the 2016 Missouri Chamber of Commerce ‘Fast Track’ Award, and have won numerous local awards, from ‘Chamber Business of the Year’ to ‘Best of the Burg’ multiple years.
Lund was included in Ingram’s Magazine’s ‘40 Under 40’ in 2018 and more recently named as one of the ‘50 Missourians You Should Know’ in 2022. He believes in the importance of serving the community and involvement is encouraged with employees and absolutely leads by example, serving on various boards and committees. Lund is the former Mayor of Warrensburg, Past President of the Whiteman AFB Base Community Council, Past President of the Greater Warrensburg Area Chamber of Commerce and Past President of the Warrensburg Economic Coalition. He is the founding and current President of MABA (Missouri Auto Body Association), serves on the Warrensburg Area Career Center Auto Body Board, the Whiteman Area Leadership Council, served as a Warrensburg City Councilman, Planning and Zoning Commissioner, Board Member for Johnson County Economic Development Corporation, the Warrensburg Schools Foundation, the Western Missouri Medical Center Foundation, a Leadership Missouri graduate and just completed the Master Graduate Leadership Program with Discover Leadership Training. Lund also mentors students, speaks to local groups and emcee’s many local events.

Doug Martin is the owner of Martin’s Body Shop, Inc., a 3 location MSO in Southern Indiana. Like most
Doug grew up in the family business started by his father in 1971. After graduating high school he gained
his Batchelor’s Degree in Public Management from Indiana University in 2007. In 2009 Doug joined the
office staff as an estimator/ Manager and quickly began learning. In 2011 the business joined the
Champions Group, where they learned many Lean Principles in the Collision Industry. About that same
time, he became the Vice President of the Indiana Auto Body Association (IABA). Doug then became the
President of the IABA from 2015-2019. He is currently still serving at the Vice President. He also is on the
advisory board for Prosser Career Center, The President of The North Harrison Community School
Building Commission, a Board member for the Harrison County Chamber of Commerce, a Community Volunteer for the Harrison County Community Foundation, and the treasure of the North Harrison Youth Baseball Program. Doug is also a proud graduate of Discover Leadership’s Master Graduate Program. In August of 2020 Doug was featured on the cover of Fender Bender magazine.

With Doug’s leadership Martin’s Body Shop is a member of the Spartan Group. The shops are certified by GM, Ford, Nissan, Honda, Acura, KIA, Hyundai, and FCA. They also own a Scanning and Calibration Company, FACTs Automotive, that only uses Factory OEM scanning tools and equipment.

Bart Mazurek is the Vice President of Consulting & Services for CCC’s Automotive Services Group (ASG) based out of Chicago.  The consulting practice supports CCC’s ASG National Accounts by providing the data analytics as well as workflow optimization. 

Bart has more than 20 years of experience in automotive and P&C Insurance markets, including eighteen years with CCC Intelligent Solutions and four years with Accenture Consulting.  His strengths include long term strategy development, process re-design, value prop development, and deep-dive data analysis. Bart has an M.B.A. in Strategy and Marketing from The University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business, an MS Ed from The University of Pennsylvania, and a B.A. in History from Boston College.

John Panagopoulos serves as Chief Operating Officer of Automotive Technology Experts (ATE). He was appointed to the role in 2022 after serving three years as Executive Vice President (EVP) of Corporate Operations for Crash Champions.

As COO of ATE, Panagopoulos oversees operations strategy for the business, which delivers industry-leading diagnostics and scanning solutions to collision repair providers across the U.S.

Panagopoulos joined Crash Champions in 2016 as the organization’s first CFO, playing an important role in the company’s rapid and historic growth into a coast-to-coast industry-leader.  In his previous EVP role, he led many of the organization’s departments including training, integrations, ATE, and business systems and administration.

An industry veteran of more than 30 years, Panagopoulos brings a wealth of experience in both the automotive services sector and as an operations and administrative leader at regional and national multi-shop collision repair operators (MSOs). He has held previous roles as District Manager for Tire America, Manager of Manpower for Sears Auto Centers and National Tire & Battery (NTB), as well as Area Manager for Service King Collision.

David Roberts brings unparalleled knowledge and experience to his mergers and acquisition work in the collision repair industry. As Co-founder and Chairman of Caliber Collision, he led its initial capital raising and corporate development team.
Now, as the CEO and Managing Director of Focus Advisors, he now leads a team of seven professionals with deep experience in strategic advisory, capital formation and M&A transactions in the collision repair industry and other automotive aftermarket companies. The Focus data team created and maintains a proprietary database of every MSO and individual shop in the US which supports their position as the industry’s most active and successful M&A advisor. Over the past nine years, Mr. Roberts has led more than 25 completed transactions totaling more than $450 million in revenue. He also writes extensively about the industry and is a frequent panelist and presenter at industry 20 groups and events.
Mr. Roberts holds a JD from the School of Law at the University of California, Berkeley where he has been an Adjunct Lecturer since 2003. He earned an MBA from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley and earned his undergraduate degree from Duke University.  Mr. Roberts also served as an officer in the US Navy.

Joe Sparacino is a Managing Director in Stifel’s Consumer & Retail Investment Banking Group focusing on companies in the automotive aftermarket. Joe has nearly 20 years of M&A and corporate finance experience and is a specialist in sell-side M&A transactions for leading middle market companies. Joe’s past clients include branded parts & chemicals suppliers, specialty distributors, high-growth e-commerce companies, tire & service retailers, quick lubes, car wash services and distribution, collision repair services, and technology-enabled service sectors serving the global vehicle aftermarket.

Prior to joining Stifel, Joe served as Managing Director and Head of Automotive Aftermarket Investment Banking at BB&T Capital Markets as well as worked in investment banking at Harris Williams & Co. and Citigroup Global Markets. Prior to investment banking, Joe held roles in strategy, finance, and operations at Textron Inc. and Sensata Technologies.

Joe holds an MBA from Duke University, Fuqua School of Business and a B.S. in Finance from Boston College.

Christopher Thornberg has been called many things throughout his career, but his favorite thing to be called is correct. A renowned economist with deep expertise in economic and revenue forecasting, regional economics, economic policy, and labor and real estate markets, Dr. Thornberg has consulted globally for private industry, cities, counties, and public agencies.

He became nationally known for forecasting the subprime mortgage market crash that began in 2007 and was one of the few economists on record to predict the global economic recession that followed. Amidst the 2020 Covid-19 shock, Dr Thornberg correctly predicted the rapid “V” shaped economic recovery, the inflation that resulted from excessive government stimulus, as well as the sharp hikes in interest and mortgage rates currently impacting U.S. markets.

Well known for his ability to capture and hold audiences, Dr. Thornberg presents to hundreds of leading business, government, and nonprofit organizations every year. Audiences across the globe benefit from his singular insight, including NAIOP, CoreNet Global, Western Bankers Association, Association
of Washington Business, Foreign Trade Association, Western Association of Chamber Executives, The Boeing Company, Kaiser Permanente, Zillow, Mountain America Credit Union, and the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. In his data-rich economic outlooks, Dr. Thornberg illuminates national and local economic trends, and warns of danger when political narratives diverge from economic realities.

Dr. Thornberg’s trusted commentary and his evidence-based approach to economic policy analysis has built a legacy of correct calls and an ecosystem that includes some of the world’s most influential entities. Regardless of the audience, client, or project, Dr. Thornberg holds firmly to the principle of objective economic analysis, often saying that ‘you can pay for analysis, but you might not like the answers the data uncovers.’

As owner of TAG Auto Group, Andy Tylka has built an enterprise consisting of 14 collision centers, 24-hour towing division, mobile glass repair and mechanical shops in both Indiana and Illinois. His newfound dedication has been developing multiple standalone ADAS (Assisted Driver Assistance Systems) calibration centers that adhere to OEM requirements and procedures.
Andy finds the benefit in true transparency; this is why he devotes his time to educate and empower others all while creating industry unity. As president of the Indiana Autobody Association and & executive board member of the SCRS, he devotes his time to influence the automotive industry on a state and national level.