2004 North American Concept Vehicle of the Year Awards
Jury Biographies

Paul Abelson
Lisle, Illinois
Paul Abelson grew up as a sports car buff, competing with a modicum of success in club events with his Volvo P-1800 S. After landing on his lid and finding that wheel-to-wheel competition was not his thing, he "retired" to the corners as a turn marshal with SCCA and the British Sports Car Owners Association (BSCOA) of New York in the 1960s. After a long absence from organized competition, the resident of the Chicago area maintains his national license as a Race Control marshal with SCCA's Chicago Region.

Paul is currently the Technical Editor of Land Line Magazine, a magazine serving heavy-truck owner operators. Besides his articles on equipment and maintenance, he has a column called "Personal Wheels," in which he reviews four-wheelers. Previously, he was Technical Editor of Super Driver Audio Tape Magazine. At Super Driver, he reviewed passenger cars, pickups, vans and SUVs each month, and wrote a column of miscellaneous automotive information and opinion called "Car Guy." Abelson has won gold, silver and bronze awards from the IAMC and ASBPE.

Paul is active in industry and automotive affairs, having served as BSCOA's vice president, two terms as a Director of Truck Writers of America, two terms as a Director of the National Association of Show Trucks and a term as Secretary of the Illinois Trucking Association Maintenance Council. The Air Force veteran has a BS degree from NYU and a Masters from Michigan State. He has a Commercial Drivers License (CDL) and regularly reviews trucks of all sizes.

Phil Bailey
Lachine, Quebec
Phil Bailey graduated as a Mechanical Engineer from Staffordshire University and arrived in Montreal in 1960. His father worked all his life in the automobile industry, starting at Sunbeam, building the ash frames for the World Land Speed record car and finishing up at Jensen motors in charge of the FF program.

Phil was deeply involved in rallying at that time and was fortunate enough to have participated in the Shell 4000 Trans-Canada rally on several different occasions, driving for Renault. When Renault withdrew from rallying and Canada, Phil got involved with the Tremblant track as Press relations officer and was blessed with many happy years of racing experience getting to know such legends as Jimmy Clark, Bruce McLaren and Denny Hulme, and doing a little club racing of his own on the side.

Phil was also a member of the American Racing Press Association and followed the Can-Am series across North America for several years. When the Canadian Grand Prix moved to the centre of Montreal, Phil was recruited to do radio commentary.

In his retirement from consulting engineering, Phil opened a garage whose policy is honesty, integrity and technical excellence. From his daily experience, Phil is able to explain, in simple terms, to car owners with no technical knowledge, the whys and wherefores of their particular problem and to assure them that he is only doing what he has to do to keep their car on the road.

Phil can be seen from time to time on the Weather Channel, CTV and Channel 9, the community network. He writes a regular column for the Montreal Gazette and a weekly column for the CanadianDriver website. He has been a well known radio personality in the Montreal area for many years. He has worked for both CJAD and CFCF, hosting a talk show about the automobile industry.

Lyndon Conrad Bell
Lafayette, California
Lyndon Conrad Bell is Editor-in-Chief of OnWheels Incorporated's publications African Americans OnWheels, Latinos OnWheels and their website onwheelsinc.com. His work has appeared in a variety of publications including; Automotive Marketer, Autoworld Magazine, Essence Magazine and Forbes.com.

In addition to a lifelong love of automobiles, Lyndon also enjoys going places he has never been and seeing things he's never seen, making him perfectly suited to judging a competition of concept cars. After all, concept cars are cars nobody has ever seen. Lyndon lives in Lafayette, California with his lovely wife Lynda.

Michael Bettencourt
Oakville, Ontario
In his adventures as assistant editor of Carguide magazine, Michael Bettencourt has seen more than his share of weird and wonderful wheels, both on the show stage and in living metal. As a regular columnist for Performance Auto and Sound magazine, he brings an aftermarket oriented perspective to his work. "Think concept car designers are out there? You should see what some people actually drive down the street."

He also does photography for the above publications, as well as writing and shooting for Globe Megawheels, the weekly automotive section for the Globe and Mail newspaper. Combine this with his time as copy editor of motorsports magazine Performance Racing News, and it's easy to see that he loves all things sleek. "When a fresh concept hits the right buttons, it's simply magic," says Bettencourt. "Hit the wrong ones, of course, and it's more disastrous than amateur standup comedy."

Kami Buchholz
Royal Oak, Michigan
As the name behind the online site www.kjbsyndicate.com, Kami Buchholz provides readers with vehicle driving impressions that emphasize the technical features of today's popular automobiles. In addition to occasional general interest articles in weekly and daily newspapers, she also reports on product development trends as the Detroit Editor of Automotive Engineering International, a monthly publication published by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE).

Thom Cannell
Lansing, Michigan
This veteran automotive photographer and journalist sold his first story to the Competition Press in 1976. Originally a racing reporter covering the North American rally scene, Cannell began to cover USAC racing during the turbulent change over from Offenhauser engines to V-8s and CART. Additional assignments resulted in stories about NASCAR and even photographic coverage of Formula One.

Since then Cannell's stories and photos have appeared in every major US automotive enthusiast publication: Car & Driver, Road & Track, Motor Trend, Autoweek, Automobile, Truckin, Turbo, Sport Truck, Street Truck, and more.

As a photographer he has contributed to "every automotive manufacturer from Audi to Yugo." Thom is US correspondent for Germany's 4Wheel Fun and a regular contributor to Florida International and Street Truck. When not behind the wheel, you will find him at a Lansing YMCA pursuing his "if I ever retire" career as an ACE certified group exercise leader and personal trainer.

Dan Carney
Herndon, Virginia
Dan Carney is a lifelong car enthusiast residing in the Washington, D.C. area. He is a freelance journalist specializing in new technology and motorsports, writing for publications such as Popular Science, Motor Trend, Automotive Engineering International, European Car and many others.

Carney has authored two books, "Honda S2000" and "Dodge Viper," both published by Motorbooks International. He is currently president of the Washington Automotive Press Association (WAPA). He is an avid motorcyclist, and his helmet is a familiar sight at WAPA meetings. Carney also enjoys racing his Formula Ford in Sports Car Club of America events.

Michael Cohn
Homewood, Alabama
Michael Cohn is the Editor of Rockcrawler 4x4 and Off-Road Magazine. Rockcrawler is an online publication located at www.rockcrawler.com. The site covers trails, tech, truck features, and truck/SUV news.

Michael has recently added a new site, called SUVMag.com, which will focus more on SUVs in regard to today's wider definition and demographic. He is personally involved in every facet of the site's publication and is very active in the off-road community on a national level.

In addition to his love for vehicles with transfer cases, Michael has been a car nut since childhood and keeps up with all the latest automotive trends and industry news.

Tom Crosby
Charlotte, North Carolina
Tom Crosby is vice-president of communications for AAA Carolinas and editor of GO Magazine, which is a bi-monthly publication sent to 800,000 households. He writes new car reviews for GO Magazine, AAA Carolinas' website and 10 newspapers in North and South Carolina, including the Wilmington Star in North Carolina.

Tom is a former reporter for The Washington Star and NBC-TV in Washington, D.C. He has been with AAA 19 years and is responsible for his club's public relations, lobbying, car buying service, member relations and traffic safety departments.

Larry Edsall
Phoenix, Arizona
Larry Edsall is editor of iZoom.com and for 12 years was an editor at AutoWeek magazine, most of it as managing editor. He is a freelancer writer based in Phoenix, Arizona, where he recently helped organize PAPA, the Phoenix Automotive Press Association. A former daily newspaper sportswriter
and editor, he has driven more than half a million miles on four continents while covering the auto industry and its products. He currently is working on a book on concept cars, to be published in the fall of 2003.

Winston Goodfellow
Carmel, California
Winston Goodfellow’s love affair with the automobile was kindled in the mid-1970s when he was in high school. One day after basketball practice, a teammate called out, "You have to see this!" Parked next to the gym was a new Ferrari 365 GT/4 BB "Berlinetta Boxer" owned by a Saudi prince who attended a nearby college. A few weeks later Goodfellow saw another prince’s Lamborghini Countach LP400, and he was hooked.

Goodfellow spent most of the 1980s in the financial services industry, then changed careers in the early 1990s to become an automotive writer and photographer. Today his photos and words are found in books and magazines around the world, and his fine art prints hang in the homes and offices of auto executives, designers and collectors. He is a Pebble Beach Concours Chief Class Judge and a Seminar Leader with the Smithsonian Institution.

"When I started my career in the industry," Goodfellow reflects, "I thought I would specialize in what
interested me—concept, performance and collector cars, and their history. I soon found myself shooting and driving things that were fast and cool, and spent time speaking with the people who created them. I was like a kid with his hand in a cookie jar!"

He hasn’t looked back. "I am one of the luckiest people in the world, for I have stumbled onto one of life’s great secrets," Goodfellow goes on. "If you love what you do, how can it be considered work?" Goodfellow's photographic work may be viewed at RollingSculpture.com.

Bob Hall
Carlisle, Pennsylvania
As publicist for Pennsylvania's Carlisle Events and award-winning host of "All About Cars" radio show (USA Radio Network), Bob Hall has turned a life-long love of cars into a career. He's earned a variety of journalism honors, including several first-place "Moto Awards" from the International Automotive Media Conference, and three "Golden Quill Awards" from the Washington Automotive Press Association.

He previously served as staff writer for "MotorWeek Television" and as associate editor of Old Cars WeekIy. His syndicated newspaper column (also "All About Cars") appears throughout the Northeast and on www.carsatcarlisle.com.

Bob's work appears frequently on www.thecarconnection.com and he serves as contributing automotive editor for WHTM-TV 27, the ABC affiliate in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

Lou Ann Hammond
Auburn, California
Lou Ann Hammond is an automotive entrepreneur who is the owner and founder of www.carlist.com, the longest running used car database and one of the first auto sites on the internet.

Before joining the automotive industry Hammond bought and sold foreign oil for Chevron Corporation. Her first driving experience was in Tokyo Japan, where she graduated from high school at the young age of 16.

Hammond co-hosts The Car Corner, a radio show in Phoenix, AZ and guests on other radio shows. She is Vice President of Western Automotive Journalists, a member of the Motor Press Guild and the Women's Automotive Journalist Association.

You can chat with Hammond every month on washingtonpost.com chat line or read her column there and in other magazines and newspapers.

Hammond resides in Auburn, CA located in the Sierra Nevada foothills of California, overlooking the Sacramento valley with her husband Mark and their dog and three cats.

Isaac Hernandez
Santa Barbara, California
Isaac Hernández was born in Madrid, Spain, into a family of journalists, editors and publishers. He earned a B.A. Degree in Professional Photography, in the field of Media , at the Brooks Institute of Photography in 1990. Other education includes pre-graduate level work in Geography and History at the University of Madrid, as well as post-graduate fine art, graphic design and journalism. He also has produced a number of short films and animations.

Isaac has been photographing and writing about automobiles for over 10 years, publishing regularly in more than 40 motor-related publications, with features as varied as drive impressions, car culture, classic cars, motorsports and commercial trucks.

Currently, he's the US West Coast correspondent for El Mundo, the second largest national newspaper in Spain. His work appears regularly in a quantity of magazines worldwide. Clients include National Geographic, GEO, Cosmopolitan, Sports Illustrated, USA Today and Playboy. Besides being on numerous covers, his photos have been published in well over 100 titles worldwide.

Tom Kelley
Charlotte, North Carolina
As head of The Deadline Factory, Tom provides freelance articles and photographs that appear in dozens of national magazines with nearly 1.5 million readers combined.

Active in many industry associations, including Detroit's Automotive Press Association, SEMA and its TCAA division, and the Automotive Aftermarket Industry Association, Tom is the co-founder of the South East Automotive Media Organization (SEAMO) and serves as a director of the Truck Writers of North America.

Along with technology coverage that can include editing a shop manual or writing about the latest telematics and intelligent-highway systems, Tom also writes numerous light truck reviews from both an adventure-travel perspective, and the business-user's perspective.

BJ Killeen
Sherman Oaks, California
BJ Killeen, one of only a handful of female automotive journalists in the country, is well known in the industry. The former Road Test Editor of Motor Trend magazine now freelances for numerous automotive titles, as well as writing for automotive websites such as Popular Mechanics, and Pickuptruck.com. She is the New Vehicle/Industry Editor for Super Rod magazine, Hot Compact and Import magazine, and all the other Buckaroo Communications publications.

BJ is currently the Road Test Editor and co-host of "Driver's Talk" Radio a live Saturday broadcast that covers Central California. BJ also is an editor-at-large of American Woman Road and Travel website, for women interested in automobiles and motorcycles.

After receiving her degree in English from UCLA, BJ joined the staff of Motorcyclist magazine, where she cultivated a fondness for motorcycles and dirt bikes. She then moved on to Motor Trend magazine, where she worked her way up to become the road test editor, and was responsible for writing many monthly columns, road tests and comparison tests, as well as voting in the prestigious Car, Truck, and Import Car of the Year competitions. BJ also is the stand-in co-host of the nationally syndicated radio program "America on the Road," with a listening audience of 3.5 million. BJ guest hosts on the "The Car Show" and "In the Driver's Seat" automotive radio programs. BJ also has appeared on television as an authority in her field, most recently on "Home Matters" on the Discovery Channel, as well as on a variety of morning news shows across the country.

As a freelance writer, BJ has worked on numerous writing assignments for firms such as dkn Marketing, PBM Marketing, Jackson-Dawson Communications, Paine and Associates, and Young and Rubicam. She is a multiple winner of the prestigious IAMC awards, and has served as a judge on numerous automotive competitions. BJ also has done freelance writing for many of the major automotive manufacturing companies.

A big racing fan, her love of automobiles started early, having been exposed to the field through her father, who owned an assortment of collector classics, such as a '61 Austin-Healey 3000, a '641/2 Mustang, and other vehicles. BJ, a native Southern Californian, is married to automotive photographer Scott Killeen and lives in Sherman Oaks, California, and also is a two-year past president of the Motor Press Guild, the organization that represents almost 600 automotive journalists and industry representatives across the country.

Ashly Knapp
Seattle, Washington
Ashly Knapp began his transportation career as an apprentice bicycle mechanic in New York City. His background includes work as a professional taxi driver, an auto mechanic and an automotive salesperson. Ashly has been involved in the transportation industry, particularly the study of vehicles since 1971, focusing on invention technology and its overall sociological impact. In 1977, Ashly founded AutoAdvisor, a consumer-oriented information and consulting service.

Ashly has contributed to media organizations since 1977 when he first debuted on KZAM radio on a talk show about cars and people. Over the ensuing years he has contributed to all forms of media as an expert on automotive issues. Ashly's work has included two different radio shows on ABC and NBC affiliates, along with car reviews for 17 years for AAA Motorist. Highlights of Ashly's career include an appearance on the Oprah Winfrey show and two separate appearances on CNN.

Bob Kroupa
Greensboro, North Carolina
Bob Kroupa is one of the principals of the Automotive Writers Group with offices in Greensboro, NC and Chicago, IL. He is also the Editor of the Vette-N-Vestment monthly Corvette Market Letter and has a monthly column, "On the Block" in Corvette Fever Magazine. In the "New Automotive" department, Bob also provides articles for the News and Record Daily Newspaper in Greensboro, NC.

 

 

 

 

Jim Meachen
Goldsboro, North Carolina
Jim Meachen is an editor for the Goldsboro News-Argus in Goldsboro, NC. He has been covering the auto industry and reviewing new vehicles for 10 years. He currently writes a weekly review for the Goldsboro (N.C.) News Argus and the Los Angeles Daily News. His reviews also appear on line.

Meachen is a native of South Dakota and worked for several newspapers in South Dakota and Iowa before coming to North Carolina. He spent four years in the Air Force during the Vietnam era writing and compiling a quarterly history of the 68th Bombardment Wing.

He has won several writing awards during his long tenure with the News-Argus, first as sports editor and currently as executive news editor.

Mark Phelan
Detroit, Michigan
Based in Detroit, Mark Phelan has covered the auto industry around the world for nearly 20 years. Curently an auto critic for the Detroit Free Press, he previously has edited and written for a wide variety of consumer and business publications.

Phelan lived in Europe for several years and wrote extensively about the auto industry there. He was founding editor, and most recently Editor-In-Chief, of Automotive Business International Magazine, a German publication covering vehicle news, business and technology issues.

Phelan has also written for the New York Times, Road & Track Magazine, Ward's Communications, Automotive Industries Magazine, and many other publications.

Chris Poole
Glendale, California
Chris Poole, 55, has served since late 1986 as West Coast Auto Editor for Publications International Ltd. (PIL), home of Consumer Guide books and magazines. He is also editor-at-large for PIL's bimonthly Collectible Automobile magazine, recently honored by the Society of Automotive Historians for continuing excellence. A lifelong car enthusiast, Poole joined PIL at its Chicago-area headquarters in mid-1979.

Among his many book and magazine credits are Great Book of Sports Cars (with Graham Robson and the late Dean Batchelor), The Encyclopedia of American Cars (with Richard M. Langworth), and Ford: The Complete History, an SAH Award of Merit honoree.

Poole works out of his home in suburban Glendale, California. His editorial duties range from testing new models to writing about historic automobiles. Poole is a past secretary and vice-president of the Motor Press Guild, the Los Angeles-based association of automotive writers and public-relations professionals. He also appears occasionally on local and national radio and television as guest automotive commentator.

Philip Powell
Sidney, British Columbia
Philip Powell is a pioneering automobile journalist who can lay claim to writing and announcing Canada's first weekly auto shows on radio and television.

He was editor of Canada's first car magazine, track announcer at major races on both sides of the border, and as a long-ago racer, won a CRDA class championship. Switching to advertising, Philip enjoyed a lengthy agency career as a creative director in New York, London, and Toronto, specializing in car accounts.

Still young and active at 72, he now produces the Auto Buying site for About.com.

Brenda Priddy
Phoenix, Arizona
Lens extraordinaire Brenda Priddy has earned a reputation as one of the world's pre-eminent automotive "spy" photographers. Her undercover exclusives have become regular feature in many magazines . These popular stealth-type photos are in high demand and her client list has included publications such as Car & Driver, Motor Trend, Automotive News, Road & Track, Forbes, Business Week and USA Today. Brenda's business has been highlighted in several print publications, including Newsweek, The New York Times, Sports Car International, and various domestic and international magazines.

In addition to lurking behind trees and juggling multiple cameras with high- tech lenses, Ms. Priddy also writes about the automotive industry and is a contributing editor and photographer with three national automotive publications.

When not writing reviews or photographing future cars, Brenda relaxes with her husband of over 20 years, John (her partner in car reviews), and her two over-energized children, Becca and Zachary - both published photographers themselves. In what little free time there is left, Brenda devotes herself to volunteering as an advocate for AEDs (automatic external defibrillators) and is helping to bring these lifesaving devices into schools, work places and communities everywhere. The Priddy's live in Arizona with a house full of dogs, cats, birds and tortoises.

Sylvie Rainville
Beauport, Québec
Thirty six years old, Sylvie Rainville boasts of an enviable experience in automotive journalism. Before taking over from her dad Jacques Rainville who passed away in January 2001, she got involved doing various things under her dad's supervision. As a full time contributor with the Quebec City French paper Le Journal de Québec, she covers various aspects of the auto world like concept vehicles, industry news, new cars review, gossips about local dealers and other relevant companies. She also does an auto supplement 5 times a year for the same publication.

Sylvie is also the editor of the French edition (Le Magazine Carguide) of the prestigious Carguide Magazine published 6 times a year, by Formula Publications based in Oakville, Ontario (Canada). Before her promotion as editor, Sylvie did various assignments for the magazine. Sylvie also writes a weekly column, a prestige and luxury car review, in Le Journal Économique, a publication covering the economic activities in Quebec, Canada. She is also an associate editor of the website www.guideauto.com, founded by her father and some of his colleagues back in 1977.

www.guideauto.com is viewed as a major automobile website on account of its complete informative content and presentation. Sylvie, being a person who loves motorsport entered the 2002 Rally Targa Newfounland, the ultimate North American tarmac rally that run across that Canadian province. She also attends major events in automobile such as international auto shows in Detroit, New York, Montreal, Toronto, Quebec City, just to name a few. In her everyday life Sylvie lives in the suburb of Quebec City with her husband and her two lovely dogs.

Jim Scoutten
Franklin, Tennessee
Jim Scoutten's career began in All News Radio while still in broadcasting school; then came TV News, starting as weekend anchor for the ABC affiliate in Honolulu. He's been a Reporter, Anchor, Producer and News Director, while working for stations in Minneapolis, Honolulu, Phoenix, Seattle, Greater Houston, and Savannah, GA.

Scoutten has produced shows on automotive news, new vehicles and classic cars for TNN for the past 11 years. He formerly produced Car and Driver TV, working closely the Csaba Csere, Editor in-Chief of Car and Driver Magazine. Under Scoutten's direction, Car and Driver Television has won five International Automotive Media Awards for excellence in broadcast reporting.

Marc K. Stengel
Nashville, Tennessee
Marc K. Stengel is a syndicated columnist whose "What I'm Driving At" weekly column appears nationally in newspapers, assorted magazines and the Internet "webzine" TheCarConnection.com. Stengel also contributes to the publications Sport Compact Car and AMI AutoWorld and his written for The Atlantic Monthly, The New York Times Book Review ,The (London) Spectator, the Pittsburgh City Paper, (Charlotte, NC) Creative Loafing, Memphis Flyer, Miami New Times and the (Birmingham) Black & White Weekly. He has worked for TV's Road Test Magazine on TNN: The Nashville Network and Motor Trend Television.

Over the years, his work has been selected for various awards from the International Automotive Media Conference and the Tennessee Outdoor Writers Association.

Kelly Taylor
Winnipeg, Manitoba
Kelly Taylor has been a professional journalist since beginning in 1988 as a general assignment reporter with the Winnipeg Sun. That same year, he took a similar position at the Brandon Sun in Brandon, Manitoba until August, 1989, when he began at the Winnipeg Free Press as a business reporter.

In 1995, Taylor began a series of upward moves, joining the night copy desk, later becoming a makeup editor and assistant news editor before assuming his current role as automotive editor in August of 2000. Taylor is responsible for all aspects of editorial production of the automotive section, including recruitment of freelancers, writing and editing copy and layout and design of the section.

Taylor is also a member of the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada and an evaluator for the Canadian Car of the Year Award, which is determined during a rigorous four-day selection process at a race track outside Belleville, Ontario. Kelly was recently named 2002 Canadian Automotive Journalist of the Year by the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada, an award presented by Jaguar.

Jim Tucker
Marietta, Georgia
Jim is Publisher of Southern Automotive Journal, a monthly trade publication focusing on news, trends and perspective in the automotive aftermarket and retailing fields. The publication is distributed in five southeast states: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and Tennessee.

Jim began his automotive publishing career with his first magazine, Georgia Automotive Business. He has published several automotive related publications over the last ten years.

Arv Voss
Vallejo, California
Arvel "Arv" Voss is a Northern California based freelance automotive journalist whose Auto Impressions column appears in various newspapers and magazines across the country. A fan of things automotive since childhood, he has collected and restored many cars and trucks over the years, among those still owned, are a 1925 Chevrolet Touring, a 1939 Ford sedan delivery, a 1940 Ford Pickup street rod and a 1957 Porsche Speedster.

Voss made the move from the advertising and marketing side of the newspaper business over a decade ago to the editorial side where he could pursue his passion for wheeled vehicles. A charter member of the Western Automotive Journalists, he served two terms as president of that organization and several years as a Vice President prior to that. He and his wife reside in a restored Victorian Vallejo city landmark that is on the National Registry as well. Also an avid sailor, he is a Past Commodore of the Vallejo Yacht Club and additionally enjoys boat restoration.

Max Wickens
Hamilton, Ontario
Max Wickens is a veteran reporter, editor and photographer. He began writing about automobiles and the industry in 1961 and is formerly the Canadian correspondent for Automotive News.

As a nationally syndicated columnist, he was one of the 8 founders of the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada. Also, he served for a while as an auto industry communications executive. Max currently freelances for Car Guide magazine and MegaWheels, the automotive section of Canada's national daily -- The Globe and Mail. He also contributes to and occasional co-hosts 2 weekly automotive radio shows in the Toronto area.