The Carl F. Tompkins Award was presented to one of the industry’s most familiar faces during the Auto Glass Week™ 2024 opening session led by Jacques Navant.
During the opening session on September 19, Dave Leach, the chief operating officer of Don’s Mobile Glass in Modesto, California, joined the Auto Glass Safety Council (AGSC) panel on stage. Leach talked about the spread of safety information within the auto glass industry, saying he’d watched it grow tremendously over the years.
He credited much of this to Deb Levy, AGSC’s chair and AGRR magazine’s publisher, to whom he presented the Carl. F. Tompkins Award.
Dave Leach was invited to present the Carl F. Tompkins Award to Deb Levy.“Deb’s commitment to the auto glass industry as a whole for literally decades has been a catalyst for safety,” Leach said.
The Carl F. Tompkins Award is the industry’s highest award, named after industry veteran Carl Tompkins. It recognizes an individual’s commitment and contributions to auto glass safety and was formerly known as the Auto Glass Safety Award.
Levy said she was moved and grateful to receive the award, adding that she was glad the industry had progressed so far from when she had entered it.
“When I started, people were still buying windshields from salvage yards and sometimes using their kids’ heads and feet to take them out,” Levy said.
Leach then announced the creation of a new award, the Auto Glass Industry Lifetime Achievement Award, and said the inaugural one also went to Levy for her contributions to the industry. Leach said that, throughout her career, Levy put in the work to make auto glass something other than “the weird offshoot of the glass industry.”
Leach said Levy will be the first inductee into the Auto Glass Hall of Fame, and the award will be known as “The Deb.”
“I was surprised to receive this wonderful honor, and surprised the AGSC Board put this together without ever slipping and tipping me off,” said Levy. “It’s very humbling, and I am very appreciative.”