August 23, 2010--Ottawa, Ontario--Tony Canade of Assured Automotive has been appointed to the Automotive Industries Association of Canada (AIA) board of directors.

Canade will be filling the position left vacant earlier this year with the passing of AIA director Rick Berg.

“Because Rick was one of the driving forces behind AIA’s new strategic training partnership agreement with I-CAR International, we felt it was important to fill this role with an individual who was familiar with the needs of the collision industry,” said AIA board chairman Brad Morris. “Tony is well known in the collision industry for his strong leadership skills and will well represent the collision repair industry in his role as Director on the AIA board.”

Tony is currently the president of Assured Automotive, an organization that owns and operates 32 collision repair centres in the greater Toronto and surrounding area.

He completed his studies in business administration at York University in 1990. He then went on to work as a student-in-accounts for a CA Firm in Toronto. In 1992 Tony joined an automotive organization which operated a collision repair centre and various dealerships.

In 2002 Tony became an Equity Partner in Oaktown Collision. In 2005, Oaktown Collision and Imperial Collision merged to form Assured Automotive. Tony is also the Chairman of the Canadian Collision Industry Forum.