Tilleman gets dealer of the year award

Press release

Craig Tilleman of Tilleman Motor Co., a Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet and GMC dealer in Havre, has been given one of 50 dealers of the year award from Time magazine.

He will be honored at the National Automobile Dealers Association Convention & Exposition in Las Vegas April 1.

The award winners are "business leaders and pillars of their communities, who have each given generously to support important charitable causes," said Tim Russi, president of Ally Auto Finance, the co-sponsor of the awards program.

Tilleman will get $1,000 to donate to the charity of his choice.

A panel of faculty members from the Tauber Institute for Global

Operations at the University of Michigan will select one finalist from each of the four regions and one national dealer of the year.

A graduate of Havre High School, Tilleman earned a Bachelor of Science in chemical engineering from Atlanta's Georgia Institute of Technology, where he graduated magna cum laude. He left Montana and became an engineer before returning in 1998 to help run the dealership founded by his father, Mike, a former NFL player.

"Dad started the dealership in 1977 in a small town 20 miles from our current store," Tilleman said. "He was either going to sell the dealership or turn it over to one of his three children. When he asked me to come back and take over, I did."

Today, Tilleman owns the dealership with his father and has added another store, Tilleman Motor Company Hi-Line Dodge.