The Collision Industry Hall of Eagles has announced its 2022 Inductees, Tim Adelmann and Frank Terlep. The two leaders were inducted Nov. 2 during the National Auto Body Council Awards and Recycled Rides event at the SEMA Show in Las Vegas.
In addition to Adelmann and Terlep, the Hall of Eagles 2021 inductees — Dan Risley, Petra Schroeder and Doug Webb — were formally inducted and able to celebrate their achievement in person at the event.
The Hall of Eagles, the collision industry’s Hall of Fame, honors exceptional individuals whose long-term efforts have reached beyond their jobs and self-interest to make significant contributions towards the betterment of the industry. Since its creation in 1989, the Hall of Eagles has been viewed as the most prestigious honor any industry professional can receive. Each year, only a select few distinguished individuals are inducted into the Hall of Eagles following nomination and receiving the vote of at least two-thirds of the current active members of the Hall supporting their induction.
“On behalf of the Hall of Eagles Board of Governors, the Hall of Eagles, and the collision industry, I would like to thank Tim and Frank for their decades-long commitment to the betterment of the collision industry,” said Russell Thrall III, a 2002 Hall of Eagles Inductee and volunteer administrator of the Hall of Eagles.
Tim Adelmann
Tim Adelmann was a principal at ABRA Auto Body & Glass for over 35 years. In 1985, he invested in ABRA and opened the company’s second repair center as general manager. Through the next two decades, Adelmann held many positions including vice president of operations, chief operating officer and executive vice president of business development.
During 2016, he was promoted to chief business development officer, where he worked with the top 20 insurance companies in the U.S. He focused on developing and maintaining relationships, and facilitated insurance contracts that would drive revenue to ABRA Collision Centers companywide.
When ABRA merged with Caliber Collision in 2019, Caliber sold the ABRA Auto Body & Glass franchise business to Driven Brands. At that time, Adelmann joined Driven Brands for 18 months to transition the insurance agreements and relationships. In 2020, Adelmann formed Adelmann Consulting, where he consults and advises with various groups and companies within the collision repair industry.
Adelmann serves on the board of directors of the Certified Automotive Parts Association (CAPA), and formerly served on the board of trustees for the Collison Repair Education Foundation (CREF). He also maintains several strategic partnerships with the Insurance Advisory Councils through the collision repair industry.
Frank Terlep
Frank Terlep started his collision industry “adventure” in 1986 when he raised $100,000 from an angel investor and launched a new company called Automotive Solutions that designed/developed one of the first auto repair and body shop management software systems, Modular Auto Repair Software (M.A.R.S.). Since 1986 he has traveled millions of miles (he is an official Delta two-million miler) to visit with and help auto body shops improve their businesses through the use of technology. During these travels, he has shared ideas and presentations to thousands of industry participants to try and help the industry and individual businesses progress and adapt to new technologies and trends that were affecting their businesses.
In 1990, he attended his first CIC meeting. He also sold his portion of the Automotive Solutions business back to his partners and joined AkzoNobel, where he marketed, sold and helped design their CRMS system and helped make it the leading MSO management system of its kind in the early 1990s.
In 1993, Frank was one of the original 14 people that launched CIEDIS, now known as the Collision Industry Electronic Commerce Association (CIECA), and volunteered in several committees to design, develop and get the EMS standard launched that is still used by the industry today. He was also elected as the chairman of CIEDIS (CIECA) that year. He remains active in both CIC and CIECA today.
In the early 1990s, Terlep worked with both ADP and Mitchell developing shop management systems. In 1999, Frank joined Carstation.com where, as employee no. 13, he and his team designed and developed the industry’s first online parts procurement platform. He launched his second company, Summit Software Solutions, in 2001 to develop a shop management system. In 2009, he started his third company, Summit eMarketing Sherpas because he believed that the way auto body and service businesses marketed their businesses was going to change dramatically. The company designed and developed a turnkey digital marketing software and mobile app platform that was sold in 2016.
In 2019, he wrote the book, “Auto Industry Disruption: Who and What is Being Disrupted and What to Do About It”. For every paperback book purchased, he donated $5 to the Collision Industry Foundation. In September 2019, he launched his fourth company, Auto Techcelerators, LLC, creating the industry’s most complete ADAS and calibration information, knowledge and repair procedure platform, ADAS CoPilot. The product received the 2022 SEMA New Product Award in the collision category. Terlep also announced the sale of Auto Techcelerators to Opus IVS in October. He will become chairman of CIC in January 2023.
The list of Hall of Eagles inductees includes many of the most influential and dedicated people that have served the industry. A complete list of Hall of Eagles’ inductees is available online here.
For more information on the Hall of Eagles, visit hallofeagles.org. Questions about the Hall of Eagles should be directed to Russell Thrall III, administrator, via email at [email protected].
