John Schenden

John Schenden grew up in Detroit, where his father worked for General Motors for 40 years. He was one of five children in a family where his parents believed in hard work, a parochial education and family.

John worked for the Chrysler Corporation for 30 years in sales and marketing. During that time, promotions prompted his family to relocate 11 times; two of those moves took him to Denver.

The third time he came to the Mile High City, it was for good. In 1993, John purchased an interest in Pro Chrysler Plymouth Jeep. He completed the purchase of 100 percent of the stock in 2002, and sold the business to The Larry H. Miller Group in 2014. Also, John was a partner in Santa Maria Chrysler Jeep Dodge Ram Fiat in California from 2011 until 2019.

Throughout his career, his greatest satisfaction came from developing and promoting employees, which made his business better. John met all the requirements to be Chrysler’s first national five-star dealer, out of nearly 4,000 dealers. Also, he was awarded F&I Magazine’s Dealer of the Year in 2008.

John believes that giving back to the community is part of any successful business. As such, he supported high school bands, charity golf tournaments and provided 2,000 books each year for students in low income-area schools. His theory is if you can read, you can do anything!

John was Colorado’s nominee for the 2002 TIME Quality Dealer award. He was past chairman of the Denver Metro Dealers Association and past chair of the Colorado Automobile Dealers Association (2006). John was one of three board members who hired Tim Jackson as President and CEO of CADA. He was the first Colorado Dealer to enroll in NADA’s President’s Club, the Dealer Election Action Committee.

Governor John Hickenlooper appointed him to the Motor Vehicle Dealer Board in 2011. He served on the board of the Metro North Chamber of Commerce (2001- 2009) and was appointed to Saint Anthony’s North Hospital Board in 2008. Also, he honorably served as a sergeant in the United States Army Reserves (1993 -1999).