Jeffery J. Koykar Sr. has been directly involved in the autobody repair industry for over thirty four years. Most of his experience during that time has been on the production line as a heavy hit combo technician. His technical expertise and skills kept him in high demand.

As a “topnotch” technician he explored career opportunities across the country. Throughout his career doors opened into managerial and ownership areas however, a free spirit that loved the excitement and thrill of travel coupled with an “out-of-the-box” thinking personality wouldn’t allow such a structured conformity to anchor his destiny just yet. As his travels continued he began noticing an alarming trend slowly creeping into the industry.

Often time’s employers, realizing Jeff’s efficiency and organization as a top producer of quality work on their production floor, would ask him if he knew of any other techs like himself, looking for employment, stating; they wished they had one or two more techs just like him. Throughout his travel, complimentary statements like that became common occurrences. Although Jeff knew he was a quality technician and employee, he sensed an underlying, growing issue looming on the horizon. An issue, Jeff believes he caught an early glimpse of attributed to his adventurous journeys exploring employment opportunities across the country. He felt his own personal experiences through witnessed revelations had confirmed a phenomenal event taking place within the industry that would soon affect employers all over the nation. He began preparing solutions to address this event well before the industry as a whole recognized it. Eventually the effects of this phenomenon began to resound and reverberate throughout the repair industry resulting in the current situation which we are presently facing; a lack of qualified entry-level techs entering the trade.

The witnessed events of what was beginning to transpire within the industry regarding qualified technician shortage issues prompted Jeff to start developing an apprentice training program. He knew based on his technical expertise and personal experiences that real world training had to be a blend of hands on training and directive material that could easily and effectively be inserted universally into any repair facility regardless of size, or operational differences. But that wasn’t enough. Mr. Koykar; knowing many of the reasons apprenticeship training has failed so miserably in the industry, had to offset that trend and designed a training program with safeguards in place to help alleviate doubts and concerns repair owners, managers and veteran technicians have regarding training efficiency. The Academy’s Autobody Collision Training (A.C.T.) program was created and designed to be beneficial and profitable to the repair facilities using his program!

Developing a complete training program that could realistically adapt to any shops requirements and meet the demands of profitability and customization was a daunting task. However Jeff’s passion for apprentice training being eclipsed only by his faith, and a committed love to his family and wife of thirty years provided the tenacity for such a project.