Thomas McKernan has retired as chief executive and been elected chairman of Costa Mesa-based Automobile Club of Southern California.
The nonprofit mutual benefit corporation, which has more than 6 million members, promoted Robert Bouttier from president and chief operating officer to the chief executive’s position, effective May 1.
“It was part of a long-term succession plan,” McKernan said. “We’ve had a plan all along and moved people around.”
Bouttier is a 37-year Auto Club veteran. He began as an insurance-claim representative and moved up to management and executive positions. He became chief operating officer in 2005 and president in 2007.
Bouttier also has taken the top seat at Auto Club Enterprises, an affiliate of the Auto Club that manages mergers and affiliations with other AAA clubs in the U.S.
McKernan succeeds outgoing Auto Club Chairman Ray Martin, who joined the board in 1997 and served as chair since 2007.
The Auto Club is the largest member of the AAA federation of motor clubs.
McKernan’s career with the club has spanned 46 years, 21 of them as chief executive.
“I started in Pasadena, doing trip tips, maps and DMV services,” McKernan said.
He received in-house technology training and moved to a Los Angeles location to work as a computer programmer while the Auto Club was going through a shift in its computer network system.
He spent 15 years in the systems department, managing and ultimately overseeing the information technology division.
“And then they moved me toward the financial area,” McKernan said. “At the end of 1985, I was appointed chief financial officer. We were in a different period in the 1980s. We were losing a lot of market share in insurance because prices were high. We had some financial losses [around] 1983.”
He became executive vice president in 1990 and was elected chief executive in 1991.
McKernan has played a key role in increasing the Auto Club’s financial stability and driving its growth, both in membership and geographic reach.
Southern California members now top 6 million, more than double the 2.6 million when he became president. That’s about half of Southern California households and includes about 66% of Orange County households.
It’s the largest automobile club in the country. “We made a lot of changes in the 1990s,” McKernan said. “There isn’t one great big thing, but a whole lot of little things. We made investments in a lot of technology.”
He also oversaw the acquisitions of AAA clubs across the U.S., starting with those in Texas, New Mexico and Hawaii shortly after he became chief executive.
He has continually developed Auto Club affiliations in Midwestern, Southern and New England states, including the most recent addition of Virginia in January.
Insurance provider Interinsurance Exchange of the Auto Club also saw substantial growth during McKernan’s tenure as boss. The company saw the number of cars it insures triple over that period, and it’s now the fourth largest auto insurer in California and 12th in the U.S.
McKernan will serve as a director on the national AAA board and vice chair of its AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, alongside his duties as chairman of the Auto Club.
