Ken Garff Automotive Group
405 South Main Street, Salt Lake City, UT 84111Click on one of the people below to find out more information.
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- Robert H. Garff
- Chairman, Garff Enterprises
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Robert H. Garff is Chairman of Garff Enterprises, Inc.; a Salt Lake City based Corporation founded in 1932. Garff Enterprise, Inc. is the parent company for the Ken Garff Automotive Group, now representing 40 stores throughout Utah, Texas, Indiana, Iowa, Nevada and California. The company employs approximately 2,200 employees and generates over $1.5 billion in annual sales.
Robert's responsibilities within the community include his service as former Chairman of the Board for Deseret Book Company, and as board member for organizations such as Intermountain Health Care, the Salt Lake Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Utah Commission on Volunteers. Previously, Robert served as the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee for the Olympic Winter Games of 2002.
Robert has held various community, business and religious leadership positions during his career, including Speaker of the House of Representatives for the State of Utah, former board member of First Security Bank, and former chairman of the Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce. Robert serves today in many positions for the American Cancer Society. The National Advisory Board for the College of Business for the University of Utah recently honored Robert as a member of their prestigious business Hall of Fame.
Mr. Garff and his wife Katharine have five children and eighteen grandchildren. They reside in Bountiful, Utah.
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- John K. Garff
- CEO, Garff Enterprises
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John Garff is the CEO of Garff Enterprises. He received his Bachelors of Science Degree from the University of Utah's David Eccles School of Business. John earned his M.B.A. from Northwestern University's J.L. Kellogg
He currently serves as a board member on the Nature Conservancy of Utah, the Zoological Society of Utah's Hogle Zoo and the National Advisory Board for the University of Utah's David Eccles School of Business.
John resides in Bountiful with his wife Amy and their five children.
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- Brett Hopkins
- CEO Auto Group
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Brett Hopkins is currently the CEO of the Auto Group for Ken Garff. Brett has been with the Garff Organization for 10 years and oversees all operations and acquisitions for the company. Ken Garff does over $1.5 billion in annual sales and has over 2,000 employees.
Prior to joining Garff, Brett was the CFO for the Salt Lake 2002 Olympic Organizing Committee. Brett was instrumental in the financial turnaround and success of the 2002 Olympic Games. Brett oversaw a team of over 500 employees in the area of Finance, Accounting, Risk Management, Procurement, Contract Administration and Logistics. Brett currently spends time working with the IOC as a "Financial Expert" helping current and future OCOGs establish solid and reliable Olympic financial plans.
Prior to joining SLOC, Brett worked for Convergys as the Director of Finance Europe. Brett was an ex-patriot based out of Paris, France where we was instrumental in turning a profit in a European business that had lost money for ten consecutive years.
Brett received his MBA from Arizona State University and his Masters of International Management from Thunderbird. Brett currently enjoys living in Salt Lake with his wife and four young children.
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- Phil Johnson
- CFO Auto Group
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Philip currently serves as the CFO of the Ken Garff Automotive Group. In this position Philip oversees the financial responsibilities of all dealerships.
Previously, Philip worked as a Finance Manager for the Salt Lake 2002 Olympic Organizing Committee and as a Senior Accountant for PriceWaterhouseCoopers.
Philip is a licensed CPA in the State of Texas, where he earned his MPA from the University of Texas with Cum Laude honors. He received his Bachelors Degree from Utah State University, where he double majored in Accounting and Finance, graduating Cum Laude.
Philip and his wife live in Bountiful with their three children. He enjoys basketball, reading and spending time with his children.
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- Matthew Garff
- Executive Director Asset Management
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Matthew received his Bachelor of Science Cum Laude in Accounting from the University of Utah in 1999. He received his Masters of Business Administration from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania in 2004.
Matthew was put to work early in the car business by his father where he swept dealership floors, mowed lawns and sold his first car at the age of 14. Matthew operated six Ken Garff Ogden franchises where he increased customer satisfaction scores and gained market share.
He has recently founded a new finance company, Security Plus Financial, to offer financing to credit-challenged customers struggling to get a loan. He also manages the real estate assets owned by Ken Garff subsidiaries.
Matthew and his wife Nicole have four children.
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- Rick Folkerson
- Executive Director Community
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Rick received his Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of Utah and a Dealership Management Degree from the General Motors Dealer Academy.
He developed and launched the Keys to Success and Road to Success incentive based education programs. Both programs influencing almost 300,000 students attending high schools and elementary schools. Rick continues to work with the Ken Garff Dealerships on large community sponsored projects along the Wasatch Front. He currently serves as a board member on the President's Club, as the Army Reserve Ambassador for the state of Utah encouraging and speaking on the benefits of serving in the military and has previously served on the Crimson Club for the University of Utah. He currently leads the Ken Garff Community Relations and Grassroots Marketing team.
Rick is married to Jennifer Garff Folkerson and together they have two children, Richard G. and Jacob R. Folkerson.
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- Brad Eichers
- CEO Kornerstone Insurance
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Brad received his Masters of Accounting from Brigham Young University.
He currently serves as President and CEO of the Kornerstone Insurance group of companies. He is also a partner with Ken Garff Automotive Group. Kornerstone provides F&I products that are sold to automotive customers. They also provide risk management and administrative services to the automotive group.
Brad resides in Salt Lake City with his wife Brenda and their three children.
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- Michael D. Creer
- Executive Director Legal & HR General Counsel
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Michael received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Accounting from the University of Utah in 1992. He received a Juris Doctorate degree from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law in 1995.
Michael has particular experience in the automotive, technology and e-commerce industries, and has written and lectured on basic business law for technology-based companies.
Prior to joining the Ken Garff team in 2007, Michael was a shareholder and director of the Salt Lake City, Utah based law firm, Ray Quinney & Nebeker P.C., where he served as Vice Chair of the firm's Automobile Dealer Law Practice Group. Michael was also a member of that firm's Business Development and Recruiting Committees. He also served as Chairman of the business Law Section of the Utah State Bar.
Michael lives with his wife, Liz, and their four children in Bountiful, Utah.
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- Jason Frampton
- Executive Director Sales Operations
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Jason started in the automotive business in 1984 at Great Basin GMC in Salt Lake City, UT in the accounting department while attending the University of Utah. After graduating cum laude with a degree in finance and a minor in Spanish, he became the full time F&I manager at Great Basin.
In 1988, Jason became the F&I manager at Ken Garff Honda. In 1989, Jason went to work for American Financial & Automotive Services of League City, Texas as a district manager. His responsibilities included consulting and training with some of the largest dealer groups in the country. His clients included Red McCombs, Group One, Ken Garff, Larry Miller, and hundreds of other dealership organizations of all sizes. While at AFAS, Jason learned the inner workings of some of the finest F&I operations in the automotive industry. After nearly 14 years at AFAS, including service from 1995 to 2002 as the Divisional Manager over the company's largest division, Jason returned to Ken Garff.
In his new role as Vice President of Sales and Finance, Jason has overseen the development of a new training program for all the finance departments and sales departments in over 40 Garff stores. He has also been instrumental in the development and introduction of several innovative F&I products.
Today, he serves on the Executive Committee of Ken Garff and is involved in all aspects of the front end of the dealership operations for all the Garff stores. Jason and his wife of 26 years, Shelley, have 4 children. In the community, he is involved with The Utah Down Syndrome Foundation, The Boy Scouts of America, and other youth organizations. He enjoys anything outdoors and counts running the Boston, New York, and Marine Corp Marathons as some of his greatest thrills.
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- Mark Boehlen
- CIO
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Working as a mechanic to put himself through school, Mark attended Ricks College receiving an Associate Degree in Automotive Small Business Management and Utah State University earning a Bachelor of Science in Accounting.
Mark spent time working for the IRS in their CP2000 program and as a Jump Master for Sports Tower franchises before joining the Rick Warner Automotive Dealerships in December of 1993 as an Internal Auditor.
Mark completed the NADA (National Automotive Dealers Association) General Dealership Management Program in November of 1997.
In 1998 Rick Warner Dealerships were sold to the Ken Garff Automotive Group and Mark began working in the IT Department.
In 2003, Mark was officially named Ken Garff Automotive Group's Chief Information Officer. He is responsible for all technical aspects of dealerships, including DMS (Dealer Management System), communications, infrastructure and providing technical solutions to help stores run more efficiently.
Mark lives in Davis County with his wife Ranae and three children. He enjoys running around the country in a diesel pusher motor home with his family.
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- Bruce Fathers
- Director Fixed Operations
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- Tony Kraatz
- Executive Director Dealership Acquisition
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Tony attended the University of Utah. His career in business started with First Security Bank in auto loan collections. Early in 1970 he began his automotive experience at Wagstaff Toyota where he worked in sales and finance for 3 years. His first management position started in 1974 as General Manager of Clark Datsun. This responsibility expanded when two other dealership were added to his charge.
In 1977 Nissan offered Tony a dealership in St. George, Utah. For the next 13 years Tony owned and operated St. George Nissan, Mazda, Jeep, Volkswagen, and later Chevrolet and Cadillac.
In 1990 he moved back to Salt Lake City to manage Utah's largest Honda dealership. He sold his St. George Dealerships in 1992 to become a partner in the Rick Warner Auto Group. He managed a number of dealerships in the Rick Warner Group (Nissan, Honda, Volkswagen, Porsche, Audi, and Nissan).
In 1998 Rick Warner Dealerships were sold to the Ken Garff Automotive Group and Tony became a partner. Tony is currently working as Executive Director of Business Development. He and his wife Wendy have been married for 41 years, and have 4 children and 6 grandchildren.
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- Kim Lindsey
- Director HR
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Kim is our Human Resources Director responsible for planning, directing and coordinating the strategic, company-wide HR initiatives for all Ken Garff locations, including over 40 sotres and 2,300 employees nationwide .
Prior to joining Ken Garff in 2006, Kim began her HR career in 1994, working for both public and private companies in many industries including manufacturing, retail and environmental.
Kim has her Bachelors Degree in Business Administration from Utah State University, SPHR Certification from the Society of Human Resource Management and CCP Certification from World at Work.
Kim resides in Stansbury Park, Utah with her husband and three boys.