After stepping down from the Collision Repair Education Foundation in July, Brandon Eckenrode has been named as the executive director of the LoveTrades Foundation.
The organization, based in Laramie, Wyoming, is a nonprofit that funds scholarships for students in WyoTech's collision and refinishing program and for career-and-technical-education students. LoveTrades' board did not make the hire public until mid-September.
Eckenrode's run at CREF spanned more than 17 years. He joined the foundation in January 2009 as associate director of development, moving up to director of development in 2012, managing director in 2021 and executive director in June 2023.
Before CREF, he spent seven years at I-CAR as supervisor of marketing communications.
In July, Collision Repair reached out to both Eckenrode and CREF officials to discuss the reasons for the departure. No response was received.
