As the general manager for Owasco RV Centre, Amy Verwey is not afraid to roll up her sleeves and get to work. She’s familiar with almost every role, having held nearly every position as she worked her way up to general manager.
“During department shortages, you can find Amy behind the counter stepping in to support her team side by side, whether it is making parts sales, writing service ROs or cleaning RVs to get a rental unit out on time. Amy is always stepping up to support her team any way she can.”
Amy focuses on developing and promoting from within, helping her employees set personal goals and using internal metrics to monitor performance. She provides consistent personalized feedback to help her team members grow, many of which have developed from entry-level roles to current management roles.
Amy has been working in the industry since she joined her family dealership right out of high school. From there she moved to Europe, where she worked as a travel agent selling motorhome vacations to Canada.
After returning home, she spent a few years working in parts, not long before being promoted to parts manager. At that point, Amy began exploring options outside of the family business, applying for roles in western Canada. She took various roles with other dealerships before returning home.
“Over the past few years, Amy has primarily focused on her team, knowing that a happy and fulfilled team provides a better customer experience. In addition to this, she has also focused on partner relationships, working closely with the factories to ensure her store has the right product mix and supply for the current market demands.”
Not immune to the challenge of hiring quality and consistent team members, Amy implemented her own internal career paths, training logs and goal-setting to drive local demand for applicants to join her team.
When Amy took over as general manager in 2018, the business had only 20 team members. Today, that number has grown to just under 50 team members with a current turnover ratio of only 5%. In addition, 40% of her team is made up of women who came from careers outside of the RV industry.
Amy is an advocate for the RV industry, working closely with local high schools, colleges and universities, engaging with students to showcase and encourage career paths in the industry.
Outside of the dealership, Amy was recently asked by Jayco’s executive team to join their dealer advisory council. She also sits on the Ontario RV Dealers Association’s government relations committee and was a past member of her local tourism committee.
When she’s not working, Amy enjoys spending time with her two kids, along with reading, traveling and sports such as running, swimming, waterskiing and snowboarding.
Amy’s advice for upcoming leaders in the RV space:
“When it comes to team building, my favorite quote is ‘Chemistry is better than talent.’ You can coach talent; you can’t coach chemistry.”