Ron Smith
Ron has more than 30 years of used vehicle industry experience, primarily as founder and publisher of Auto Remarketing NewsMagazine His first used vehicle industry experience was in 1979
when he began assisting the National Independent Automobile Dealers Association (NIADA) with its member newsletter. Later, he joined NIADA as assistant executive director and started the association’s magazine, Used Car Dealer. When he formed his own public relations company in 1982, he continued to publish Used Car Dealer as an independent contractor until 1990, when NIADA decided to create its own in-house publishing staff.
Ron felt that Used Car Dealer was focused on NIADA’s membership of independent dealers, while the used vehicle operations of the nation’s franchise dealers were overlooked by the national trade media. He founded Cherokee Publishing Company (later changed to Cherokee Automotive Group) in the fall of 1990 and began publishing the magazine today known as Auto Remarketing NewsMagazine.
Today, CAG produces two industry print publications and corresponding Web sites, two to four industry trade conferences per year, five automotive-related digital newsletters and a dealer-oriented Webinar series.
Ron is also president of S&A Cherokee, a public relations and publishing company. He is an accredited public relations counselor of the Public Relations Society of America