What happens when a family-owned business decides it is in the people business? In this episode, Tim Winkeler, President and CEO of VIP Tires and Service in Auburn, Maine, shares how listening to employees became the engine of VIP’s culture. Each February, Tim and his leadership team travel across New England to meet with all 800+ team members, then show them which of their ideas were put into action. Tim also talks about growing leaders from within, the mistakes that taught him the most, and why spending time getting to know your people is the first thing he tells any leader who is struggling with the people side of the job.  
Tim Winkeler is President & CEO for VIP Tires & Service headquartered in Auburn, ME.  Tim is a people-focused leader with a track record of building high-performance teams that exceed expectations. Always focused on customer needs and feedback, and then building core competencies around making money by serving customers in different & better ways. Tim thrives in helping organizations succeed through strategy development and execution, relentlessly pursuing continuous improvement while helping each member of the team reach his/her personal best.
VIP Tires & Service operates 75+ automotive service centers across New England. With more than 800 employees, VIP is a 3rd generation privately held family-owned company that began as Quirk Tire Company in Watertown Massachusetts in 1926.  Under Tim’s leadership, VIP has been transformed from a discount retailer to a professional service provider by focusing on people rather than price. VIP invests in their people through a multitude of programs including Leadership Training, P&L Training, Career Pathing, Industry Certification Achievement, Team Building, and many others.
 

In the inaugural episode of People-First: Leadership Conversations, Kaveri Subbarao Nauhaus shares how staying observant, keeping a growth mindset, and saying yes shaped her leadership. The conversation covers the courage to be disliked, candid feedback delivered with compassion, accountability without fear, leading change by asking the people closest to the work, and why relationships come first. Her advice to leaders: invest in the relationship.
Kaveri is the Chief Executive Officer of Bernstein Shur, a New England–headquartered full-service law firm serving clients across the U.S. and internationally. With more than two decades of experience as both a lawyer and business executive, she is recognized for combining strategic vision, legal expertise, and leadership to drive growth and inspire high-performing teams.
Before joining Bernstein Shur, Kaveri spent eight years as Global Executive Director of Strategic Growth & Litigation Practice at AmLaw 200 firm Clark Hill PLC, where she led initiatives to increase revenue, profitability, and practice performance. Her career spans senior leadership roles across law, corporate strategy, and marketing, including Chief Marketing Officer and Corporate and Media/Entertainment Attorney at Cohen & Grigsby (now Dentons), Chief Strategy Officer and General Counsel at Velocity Broadcasting and Elias/Savion, and founder of Gallasia, Inc., where she provided interim executive leadership to global companies. She began her career in marketing at Exxon Mobil.
 Kaveri earned her undergraduate degree from Wheaton College, her JD from American University’s Washington College of Law, and an Executive Management and Leadership Certificate from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.

Introduction to the People-First: Leadership Conversations podcast