Southlake, Texas – Christina Robertson, corporate counsel and director of education for the Association of Finance & Insurance Professionals (AFIP), announced the recipient of the $1,000 Jakob Murray Lange Memorial scholarship at the annual Northwood University Dealer Education Awards breakfast in New Orleans on January 26, 2014. Senior Luke Flannery, an automotive marketing major from Bad Axe, Michigan, earned the scholarship for his exemplary achievement as a dealership intern during summer 2013.

Flannery interned at Bill Marsh Automotive Group in Traverse City, Mich. The full service dealership operates on four campuses and sells new and used Buick, GMC, Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram, Hyundai and Ford vehicles. According to Dan O’Connor, general sales manager, “We first connected with Luke in a roundtable discussion on campus. I was very impressed with his professionalism and knowledge of the business. He later approached us about internship opportunities. We’d never had an intern, but decided to take Luke on last summer. Luke spent time in every department on all four campuses – sales, service and parts, the body shop, centralized reconditioning, marketing, accounting and JD Byrider – plus time on the job shadowing me. Our experience with Luke went beyond our expectations. He was always prepared, conducted himself in a very professional manner and was a ‘sponge’ to all things Bill Marsh. He not only became a part of our team, by the end of the summer Luke was contributing in leadership meetings and truly had an understanding of our philosophy and culture.”

This is the second year AFIP has awarded the scholarship, recently named to honor a gifted AFIP staff member, Jakob Murray Lange, who died in a car accident in 2013. A plaque recognizing the scholarship recipients is on display in the NADA building on the Northwood University campus. In addition to the scholarship funds, Flannery will receive a crystalline obelisk in recognition of his achievement.

Internships have been an important component of Northwood’s Automotive Marketing and Management Program for many years. “The experience students gain working at dealerships,” said Elgie Bright, department chair, “has proven invaluable to their success in moving from the classroom to the showroom. Having AFIP support our efforts through their scholarship program raises the prestige of the experience and helps boost interest in internship opportunities. We are grateful to Dave Robertson and the AFIP staff for all they do to support our program here at Northwood.”

According to Dave Robertson, AFIP executive director, “As I've learned firsthand working with dealers throughout the U.S., Northwood interns are highly prized for their ability to apply the lessons learned in the classroom to the real world challenges they encounter in the dealership."