The Auto Glass Safety Council recently elected Jacques Navant as its new president, Peter Brown as its vice president and Troy Mason as its treasurer. Navant sat down with AGSC communications manager Abby Bowman to discuss his new role at the AGSC, his career and his excitement for the future of the auto glass industry.
Jacques Navant, the AGSC’s new president.You became president of the AGSC in May. What was your initial reaction when you learned you’d been elected?
I couldn’t believe it was happening. For all intents and purposes, this is one of the highest positions in our industry, so it’s just a huge honor. It seems surreal. Now, after the fact, it is definitely soaking in. I got a lot of great calls from a lot of great people and a lot of great comments. I feel proud and lucky, and I look forward to getting a lot of work done.
How did you first get involved in the auto glass industry?
It was essentially a summer job that never ended. I started part-time in a glass warehouse, and it just mutated into a lifelong career.
I was working for one of the larger companies. I started in the summertime – the busy season – and I was just a warehouse driver. A bunch of automotive technicians quit, so my manager at the time was like, “Hey, you’re installing tomorrow,” and I’d never done that before.
So I kind of just jumped right in and started making good money. I liked it, and I liked to train people after I learned what I was doing. I enjoyed being a mobile technician because every day was a different challenge, and it was fun.
How did you get involved with the AGSC?
I did 22 years with that larger glass company that wasn’t an AGSC member. After I left them, I went to work for Don’s Mobile Glass in Modesto, California, with Dave Leach and Stephen Mort. Stephen told me to get involved [with AGSC], and I went to my first meeting. I’d never heard of the organization at my first meeting, and I fell in love as I sat with a bunch of passionate people and talked about what I’ve built my adult life around – auto glass. So, it was cool to meet like-minded people. There have been some heated conversations over the last several years, but they have always had a good outcome.
When you started in the industry and/or with AGSC, did you ever foresee where you would be now?
(Chuckling) No!
Why is the AGSC important to you?
Maturing into the industry at a larger company, you might look at groups like AGSC and say, “Oh, geez, they’re just throwing more rules at me, trying to make my job harder.”
But when you’re involved in the AGSC, you take part in the committee meetings, especially the Automotive Glass Replacement Safety Standard (AGRSS) Committee, and you get to help shape all those best practices. You help keep customers safe. It’s a big deal. It’s a heavy responsibility for everybody that gets involved. I wouldn’t take a single day back; it’s really fun.
Why is the AGSC important to the auto glass industry?
The most important part of the AGSC is to help keep [the industry] current and up-to-date. It’s easy to get lost and complacent, whether you’re that one lone guy in a truck, a company of 40-50, or even larger than that.
It is especially easy to get lost nowadays because technology is changing rapidly. Almost every day, I’m surprised by a new car that rolls into the shop with all its accoutrements and attachments. It blows my mind.
So I think it’s important for everybody in this industry to get involved in the AGSC because that way, you’re “future-proofing” your business. You have one eye on the task in front of you and the other eye on what could be happening a few years down the line.
What’s the biggest misconception about the AGSC?
It’s a morbid habit of mine, perusing social media and seeing what people say not just about the AGSC but about our industry in general. The major misconception I see is that the certification AGSC gives you is just a piece of paper. I can’t help but think, “Hey, if you’re looking for a piece of paper to grow your business, they usually call that a business degree.”
Certification is the verification of knowledge. It’s where you have something you can hang on your wall for customers to see. It shows that you care enough to engage in your industry that you get your team, or just you, certified to verify your knowledge and ensure your knowledge base is up-to-date.
What AGSC initiatives are you excited about?
I’m extremely excited about the Repair of Laminated Automotive Glass Standard (ROLAGS) 2, the updated repair standard. We’re cutting away a lot of the gray on Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) features. A lot of people might not think of it like I do. Rock chip repair is more important now than ever because of all the advanced safety features attached to windshields. You run into problems with part availability, and you run into problems with calibration software availability. So, I think ROLAGS 2 will be one of the biggest achievements the AGSC has made in a while. That’s something I’m looking forward to moving forward.
We’ve also been working very hard on a Customer Service Representative (CSR) certification program. We have a ton of questions for the certification exam that we’re going to go through. We should hopefully have a basic certification done by the time the committee meeting before Auto Glass Week™ is over.
We also have the ADAS certification program [in development]. We have a big bag of questions to go through and tighten up. So we should have two great products to help everybody broaden their knowledge base.
You also chair the ADAS Committee. How important is ADAS to the auto glass industry?
It is mission-critical for our industry. It’s still something very new for a lot of people. Not everybody is comfortable with the technology or even using a scan tool. So, I think it is a key opportunity for up-and-coming companies to future-proof their business and to understand the “what” and the “why” behind calibrations. There’s an opportunity to learn the proper way of doing calibrations and, most importantly, how to keep your customers safe.
How is ADAS important to the AGSC?
When it first started popping up regularly, I think it scared the heck out of a lot of people. The AGSC had the guts to dive deep into it. That sometimes meant some very uncomfortable committee meetings. At the end of the day, though, it helped us build our current AGRSS standard to address ADAS and calibrations thoroughly. So, ADAS is mission-critical, because you couldn’t be the Auto Glass Safety Council without knowing everything you can about vehicle safety systems.
You’re one of the youngest presidents AGSC has ever had, yet you’ve had a long career. Any thoughts?
Well, I started young. I’m sure anyone who reads this understands that the auto glass industry is weird; it gets into your blood. [Toward the beginning of my career], when I was a mobile tech, I was practically creepy. I carried little notebooks, which I still have, where I took notes of every job I worked on. So it’s almost addictive.
You are heavily involved with Auto Glass Week™; what are you most excited about?
As always, I’m extremely excited about Auto Glass Week. We’ve put together some great seminars.
In the past, our member meeting has been a little lackluster. This Auto Glass Week™, I think we put together the best member meeting that we could possibly think of. It’s going to be at a place I haven’t seen yet personally – the ICEBAR Orlando. It will be the evening of Thursday, September 19, and we’re raffling off a brand-new calibration system, complete with target stands, a tablet, training and certification for the system. It’s a big deal; it’s about an $18,000 raffle.
That should hopefully inspire all of our members to come out and intermingle with everybody, see everybody face-to-face instead of in front of their smartphone or computer. Get out there, be active and win some equipment.