16 Auto Remarketing www.AutoRemarketing.com May 1–14, 2010

›› Tom Caruso

The Auto Remarketing Profile

Series is a monthly feature of

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Profile Series // May

Talk a little about home, where you grew up.I grew up in a little town about 15 miles outside of Boston

called Belmont. Since it was a Boston suburb, we had the ad-vantage of living in a small town while also being near a large city. It was a great place to grow up.

Some of my best friends today are guys I grew up with in Belmont. We are all still very, very close. In fact, I went to one friend’s wedding not too long ago. I’m grateful that we are all still such close friends.

Tell us about your family.I had a great childhood. I have three older sisters, so the

biggest challenge I had growing up was sharing only one bath-room! We really had no drama growing up — just a very lov-ing, very caring family.

I’m very proud of my parents. My dad was the son of im-migrants from Italy, making him a first-generation American. My mom’s side of the family came from Ireland … so in Bos-ton that was considered the perfect marriage! (laughter) With my Italian heritage and my Irish heritage, I qualified for the Key to the City!

Both parents grew up in the (Great) Depression and were from large families. Dad was one of 13, and mom was one of 12. Dad was also in World War II as a U.S. Navy Seabee. My father is deceased now, but I have been researching the role he played in the war. Dad was very proud to be an American, and we al-ways had a flag flying at home.

It seems that the family was a key part of your early life.Most definitely. Our entire lives revolved around the fam-

ily. We would spend one weekend with one set of grandpar-

ents, and then the next weekend with the other set. We also fre-quently spent time with all of our aunts and uncles.

I think that was the foundation of the relationship I have with my siblings today. A day doesn’t go by that I don’t get a phone call or e-mail from them — just checking in to see how I am doing.

What type of work did you father do?Dad was a machinist with the Boston Globe; he was very

skilled at his job and had a strong work ethic. In fact, in addi-tion to his full time job, he was also part owner in a gas station. He’d put in a full day of work at the Globe and then work nights at the gas station.

When I was a little kid, I liked to go with him to the news-paper and meet everybody. People would say things like, “Your dad is just the greatest guy.” Of course, I already knew that, but it made me so proud to hear others say it.

Did you go to the press room and watch the presses run?Oh, yeah. It was exciting. Almost like an auction!

Tell us about your mom.She was a stay-at-home mom, which was very typical for

that era. She got up with all of us every morning to cook us breakfast. She always had a snack waiting when we got home from school, and would ask us about our day and help us with our homework. She was always available to me and my sisters, offering love, support, whatever we needed. I have nothing but fond memories growing up.

I loved sports and played a lot of baseball. We all played the sport that was in season—football, basketball — but

baseball was my favorite. We really didn’t have organized sports per se until high school, but instead just played with whoever showed up. If we didn’t have enough kids show up for baseball, we would do things like make right field off limits. (laughter)

We assume you never played center in basketball?(laughter) That’s true, but I did play basketball on a Cath-

olic Youth League traveling team. Since moving to Indianapo-lis, I’ve learned that it’s not always wise to say you played bas-ketball. Indiana is such a big basketball state — so I don’t bring it up often at work (laughter).

But, baseball and then softball have been my main sport. Remember the group of guys I mentioned that I’m still friends with? We actually all played softball together until we were about 30. Sports and cars have always played a pretty big role in my life. As a kid, I would always read the sports section of the newspaper first, and then the auto section second. I have loved cars for as long as I can remember.

Was your interest in fixing them? Driving them?I was pretty much fascinated by everything to do with

cars. Sometimes, dad would take me to the car shows, and I would collect all of the brochures — every single one of them. For me, it was a big event.

Did you see yourself in the industry? Maybe sales?I don’t know. I just loved cars so much I thought maybe

someday it would be neat to be in that business. I didn’t know how. But I thought somehow, the car business was going to be a part of my life.

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May 1–14, 2010 www.AutoRemarketing.com Auto Remarketing 17

Let’s return a little to your early home life. With three sisters, a stay-at-home mom and a one-bathroom house, it must have been bustling.

That’s true. Add to it that the Caruso house was where ev-eryone wanted to go. It was pretty typical for me, or my sib-lings, to have friends come by and stay for dinner. Everyone just felt at home at our house.

We not only had to fight for the bathroom, we also had to take turns using the phone. There was always a juggling act, but there was also always a lot of love in that house.

Do you see a lot of similarities in your life today compared to your parents? What characteristics did you inherit?

Absolutely. Family continues to be a driving force in my life. The same family bond that was so strong in our house growing up is also there in our family today. My wife, my daughter, my son and I all genuinely enjoy each other’s company. Even though they are now adults — our daughter is a first-grade teacher and our son works at ADESA — we are all still very close.

Did you have any childhood jobs?I think, looking back, that I might have had them all!

(laughter)Seriously, I had a paper route like so many other youngsters.

Then later, when I was in high school, I had a lot of different jobs. One interesting job I remember is working at a car wash. That is where I learned to drive a stick-shift for the first time.

So, to put that in perspective, you learned to drive a stick-shift in someone else’s vehicle?

Exactly! (laughter) I didn’t want to learn on my own car. I didn’t want to burn out my clutch!

It was also in high school where I had my first interaction with the car business. One of my buddies’ father and uncle were firefighters and worked part-time for a large wholesaler. They were always looking for someone to drive cars. So, that is how I got into the car business, as a driver.

That was where I really got to know the dealers, to learn the jargon and understand how the business worked. It was an amazing opportunity to sit back, watch these seasoned car guys and study what made them tick.

Within a very short amount of time, I was allowed to use a vehicle on the lot with dealer plates. Then, I worked my way up to actually selling cars at a very young age.

How old were you?Probably 17. At first, I was only selling a few cars to family

members and friends, but then my opportunities grew as I be-came more experienced.

Have you ever considered another career?I don’t know. I think at one time I thought I might like to

be a police officer. But I already had the car bug, and I really en-joyed it. I continued working at wholesaling cars even while I attended college.

One day, the wholesaler I was working with drew me aside and said he thought I would do well in the auction business. In fact, he said he was going to start an auction himself. It was called the American Auto Auction in Walpole, Massachusetts.

He wanted several of us to help him out. I was only 19 then, but it sounded exciting. It was a very small auction, and we all pitched in and did any job that was needed. Of course, at that time the big auction in Massachusetts was the Concord Auto Auction — it had been there since 1947.

Our little auction was really struggling, and one day, one of the wholesalers said to me, “You ought to take a ride to Concord. You could probably do a good job at the Concord Auto Auction.”

Did you take his advice?I did take his advice and drove over and met with the gen-

eral manager, a man by the name of Joe Bellino …

Did you just walk up and say, “Hi. My name is Tom Caruso”?

Yep, I did. I thought his name sounded familiar, but at first I couldn’t place it. Then I remembered that he had won the Heisman

Trophy in college and later played for the (New England) Patriots. He had retired from football and had gotten into the car business.

He was the general manager, and the auction was owned by a family by the name of Cox (not the family associated with Manheim). He said, “OK. Why don’t you come in on sale day and work?” So I went in on sale day, more or less as a test, and did a lot of different things. Basically, I did anything Joe asked me to do.

The Concord auction was a huge difference compared to what I was used to! This was sale day — more than 600 cars — this was the “big dog” auction. I was used to only one lane with a fraction of this many cars.

At the end of the day, Joe said I had done a good job. He wanted me to come in Monday and begin handling the Ford ac-count. Just like that! And that began my long association with the Concord Auto Auction.

How old were you?I was about 20. But, keep in mind I had worked in the car

business for a number of years, either with the wholesalers or with the other auction.

I worked on the Ford account for only about two weeks, when Joe said he needed help with the fleet/lease department. So, within weeks I became the fleet/lease manager and assistant general manager, reporting directly to Joe. I liked it. It was fast-paced, but I knew I could do it.

Wasn’t this also about the same time that many of the practices at the auctions were changing?

Yes, and one of the hot topics at that time was odometer tampering. Previously, there was no way to verify the accura-cy of an odometer reading. There were definitely some growing pains for the auctions and for the customers, but we all knew these changes were for the best. Now the auctions, through the National Auto Auction Association, have consistent policies. This benefits everyone — the commercial sellers, the dealers, the auctions and the industry.

The NAAA took a leading role in cleaning up the odometer problem.

It did, and that is when I first got involved in going to the association meetings. Back then, we would have zone meetings, which is where I first met others in the industry. Since things were changing so quickly in our industry, attending the NAAA meetings was very informative and educational.

It was through NAAA that I learned so much about the in-ner workings of the auction industry, and where I got to meet people like Tom Adams of Auction Insurance along with many other industry leaders.

How long did you stay assistant manager, and what happened next?

I stayed in that role until 1984 when the owner of the auc-tion, Roy Cox, died unexpectedly. His two sisters, who were ab-sentee owners, then became responsible for the auction. About that time, Joe decided to go to work for a bank. Things were def-initely changing.

Roy’s two sisters hired a car dealer as general manager, but that only lasted for about four months. I was thinking about moving on as well, when one of the sisters flew up from South Carolina and asked me to stay and run the auction.

How old were you?I was 23. She asked if I could run an auction, and I as-

sured her I could. So, I became the general manager. Since the two sisters lived in South Carolina, I ran the auction like it was my business. We already had the Ford sale, but I was able to get GMAC in there, Chrysler Credit and Toyota. Business was def-initely growing.

Over the years, the auction had many suitors. Anglo American (Auto Auction) tried to buy us, along with several others. The different auction company executives would take me to dinner to find out if I would stay … which only made sense because you would not bring in someone from Texas to run a Boston sale.

Around ’91, Mike Hockett and Dave Hill showed up. Mike had just opened up a new chain called ADESA. Mike and the

›› Tom Caruso

›› oRGANIZATIoN ADESA

›› PoSITIoN CEO

›› BIRTHPLACE Boston

›› EDUCATIoN Bentley College, Business Waltham, MA

›› FAmILY Wife: Diane, Married 28 years Daughter: Michelle, 1st grade school teacher Son: Joe, E-Business administrator, ADESA

›› PRoFESSIoNAL CAREER Title: COO Organization: ADESA Dates: 2007–2009

Organization: Concord Auto Auction, ADESA Dates: 1980–2007

CARUSO // continued on page 18

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18 Auto Remarketing www.AutoRemarketing.com May 1–14, 2010

owner agreed on a price, and then Mike came to me — and I’ll never forget this — and said, “I’m not going to sign the papers unless I know you’re here.” I stood up, shook his hand and said, “� anks, Mike.”

We were instantly the number one auc-tion in the young ADESA chain. � e week they bought us, we sold more cars than any other ADESA auction. At that time, we were run-ning about 1,200 cars a week.

The auction later moved, didn’t it?� at’s right. We were pretty landlocked

and had been looking for a new location. One day, the real estate agent called and said he had found us 200 acres about 20 miles out from Boston … the old GM plant in Framington. It had all these acres under one roof — Mike asked if I could make it work. I assured him I could. When we opened, that auction really took o� . And we’ve never looked back.

ADESA has gone through a number of changes since your earlier days with them, including several ownership chang-es. How did that affect you?

Of course, the � rst big change was when Mike sold out and Jim (Hallett) came on board. We had decided to reopen the old Concord site, so I was managing both locations. Jim came to me and asked if I could also manage New Jer-sey. Later, he also added Long Island, so my role became much more of a regional position. It was about that time I became a vice presi-dent of the company.

At that time, all the vice presidents were re-quired to live in Indiana. My kids were in high school, and I told Jim I just couldn’t do it. Jim said, “OK Caruso, you will be the � rst vice pres-ident who doesn’t live in Indiana!” (laughter)

� at is also about the time I began to get more and more involved with NAAA on a na-tional level. Of course, that later led to the honor of serving as NAAA president from 2005-2006.

There was also the time that ALLETE owned the company, brought in its own

management team and suddenly Hallett was gone. That had to be a unique time.

It was de� nitely a cultural change. Jim was the face and the leader of ADESA. When he le� , there was a noticeable void in the com-pany. � e management people who came from ALLETE just didn’t have the industry back-ground or the relationship with our custom-ers. Consequently, things were looked at dif-ferently, and, as you know, there were a few others who le� in addition to Jim.

At that time, the company was run di� er-ently. And while a few others also le� ADESA, the core of ADESA’s sta� was still there. I really be-gan to take on new and additional activities. For instance, with Jim gone, it was just a natural � t for me to step in and � ll Jim’s void since I had the in-dustry knowledge and the relationship with our customers. Also, since I was NAAA president, it made sense for me to travel and participate in na-tional sales calls. I really took on more of a nation-al leadership role with the company.

How did you feel when Jim came back?(laughter) � at is a funny story. I was ac-

tually in Florida on business when I got a call from the former management team. � ere was a meeting scheduled, and they told me to get back to Boston as quickly as I could. � ey said there was a group who wanted to purchase ADESA, but they had made a point of saying they wanted to talk with me prior to making the � nal decision.

I walked into a room full of potential in-vestors, and they proceeded to ask me a lot of very speci� c questions about the industry, the company and the company’s plans for the fu-ture. I answered them the best I could, but the entire experience was unusual.

About three days later, Jim called. We proceeded with small talk, and the meet-ing with the potential investors came up. Jim laughed and said, “You think those guys would have known what to ask you with-out me?” (laughter) He knew what was going on all along, and then told me he was com-ing back to ADESA. It’s been great, and we haven’t looked back since.

›› TOM CARUSO // ADESA

Around ’91, Mike Hockett and Dave Hill showed up. Mike had

just opened up a new chain called ADESA. Mike and the owner agreed on a price, and then Mike came to me — and I’ll never forget this — and said, ‘I’m not going to sign the papers unless I know you’re here.’ I stood up, shook his hand and said, ‘Thanks, Mike.’

CARUSO // continued from page 17

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May 1–14, 2010 www.AutoRemarketing.com Auto Remarketing 19

And that led directly to you becoming president and CEO?

Not directly. I was COO when Jim re-turned. � en, in September, I became presi-dent and CEO. Jim later shared the plan to take the company back public, and he would be-come CEO of KAR Auction Services. He told me that if I was interested in being president, I needed to meet with board members, “… but the job is in Indy!” (laughter)

Did you move?Yes. My wife and I now have an apart-

ment here in Indianapolis, and we are set-tling in quite nicely. We also kept our house in Massachusetts because our children still live in the area. But, I am in Indy the majori-ty of the time.

One thing I’ve known for a long time is that if you want to do this job right, you can-not sit behind a desk all the time. You have to get out and interact with people — employ-ees, customers, the industry. � at’s what I’m all about.

Other than flying around the country for business, do you have time for the fun things?

I like to play golf … but anyone read-ing this story will say I need a lot of prac-tice! (laughter) But I � nd it relaxing most of the time.

I also love antique cars. I’m like a kid; when I get them, I don’t like to get rid of them.

Funny story: I bought a Chrysler 300 convertible in the early ’80s. I later had to sell it to buy our first house. It was one of those cars you later kicked yourself for sell-

ing. However, believe it or not, I had the chance to buy it back … the same car. I am now having a full restoration done on it. It is almost like a family member coming back home.

We have a family place up on Lake Win-nipesaukee in New Hampshire where we boat and Jet Ski. I am also a big barbecue guy, so I love to cook on the grill. I like to cook regard-less of the time of year or the weather.

My wife and I are best friends, so we like to spend time together. We’ve been together since 1976, and when I � rst became interest-ed in her, she would have nothing to do with me. So, I did what any good car guy would do — I asked out her best friend! � at got her at-tention, and we started dating two weeks lat-er! (laughter)

Finally, the last question: Is it still fun to come work?

Most definitely. I have had and contin-ue to have an outstanding career, but one of the things I am most proud of is the relation-ships that I have enjoyed over the years with my colleagues in the industry. I have been fortunate to work with some of the most out-standing and talented people in the auction industry, and that certainly makes coming to work enjoyable.

I would not be where I am today with-out the support of not only my family — my parents, my siblings, my wife and chil-dren — but also everyone I have worked with throughout the years. That is the same kind of support that I hope to instill in everyone working at ADESA. It’s a great business. It’s a fun business.

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