TECHNICIAN TUESDAY: Alex Peters

For this week’s Technician Tuesday, we headed over to West Herr Nissan of Williamsville to meet Shop Foreman, Alex Peters! Alex has been on Team West Herr for about eight years now but has been I the automotive industry for nearly twenty years total!

Alex says he started in the automotive industry completely by accident. “I was interviewing for a retail job at Sears, but they told me they needed someone in their Auto Center. I ended up doing sales there,” he says.

Alex stayed in that position for about a year, then transitioned to another auto company as an Assistant Manager, where he stayed for another two years. Alex decided that becoming a Technician versus a Manager would better suit his skill set, so he did just that! After seven years as a technician as another automotive company, he felt as though he was plateauing in his career and needed a change. He had a friend who worked for West Herr and was told he should give it a shot. “It’s probably been the best decision of my life,” Alex says. When Alex got hired at West Herr, up until then, all his knowledge was self-taught.

In the eight years of Alex’s West Herr career, he mentions some of the best memories are the employee appreciation events. “Taking my kids to the picnic and whatnot is always super fun,” Alex adds. He mentions the technician appreciation events at the Lancaster Speedway are a blast. “Plus, it’s always nice to see people outside of work regardless,” he says.

Alex says that since he’s started, he’s recruited three of his friends to work back in the shop with him, which is a huge perk to get to work with your friends! “You basically become a family back there,” he adds.

Alex says that he genuinely enjoys working for West Herr simply because he feels appreciated. “Being here for eight years, I still haven’t plateaued. I’ve never felt like I’ve peaked here,” Alex mentions.

This past October, Alex got promoted to become a Shop Foreman! He says it’s a bit of a transition to go from being a normal technician to a foreman, but so far, he’s really liking it.

When Alex isn’t working, he loves to spend time with his family and his cat, Linus! Alex has three kids that he spends time with at their cabin in Little Genesee. Some of their favorite activities include riding four wheelers, and spending time in the great outdoors. He also loves to play video games and fly his FPV drone!

 When Alex thinks back on his time here at West Herr, he wanted to give a shoutout to Jeremy Spencer, the previous Shop Foreman at West Herr Nissan of Williamsville. Jeremy recently accepted a position as a Service Manager at our Mazda store in Canandaigua, but Alex says he learned so much from him and really enjoyed working with him. “I wouldn’t know what to do half the time if it wasn’t for him,” Alex says. Alex also wanted to shout out his previous Service Manager, Dennis Guszdek, who was always super helpful with anything Alex needed. Dennis has moved stores, bringing a new Service Manager to Nissan of Williamsville. Dave Ciesielski, who was a previous Service Advisor at Nissan, is now the Service Manager and Alex is super thankful for everything he does to help him out.

He adds that his favorite part of his job is the fact that no two days are the same. In his line of work, there are a lot of tools needed to get through the day, but Alex says the one tool he absolutely could not live without is his computer! With how much technology is changing, this is crucial in Alex’s day to day regimen.

When looking towards the future, Alex’s main goal is to keep growing. Alex mentions, “there’s always room for improvement.” He says one day he’d love to potentially land in management, but ultimately, he wants to keep working his way to the top!

Alex has an undeniable drive, and we are so lucky to have him on Team West Herr! Keep up the amazing work, Alex!