Chabill's Beth Barron receives industry award

Beth Barron, CEO of Chabill’s Tire & Auto Service, is the recipient of Modern Tire Dealer magazine’s 2024 Tire Dealer of the Year Award.
Barron has won the tire industry’s oldest and most prestigious award. There are more than 29,000 eligible independent tire dealers in the U.S.
As part of the award, she appears on the cover of Modern Tire Dealer’s September issue, and she and Chabill’s Tire & Auto Service are featured in an in-depth article in the magazine.*
Barron is the second-generation leader of Chabill’s Tire & Auto Service, a business based in her hometown of Morgan City, La. Her father, the late Charley Gowland, was a founder of the business in September 1968. He and co-founder Billy Parker combined their first names and went to work selling tires and automotive service to customers.
As a child she remembers a weekend chore of cleaning her father’s office, but after graduating from Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, Barron returned home and worked her way through the departments in the company headquarters, gradually taking on additional responsibilities. Before her father died in 2019, Barron was named his successor as CEO.
Chabill’s Tire & Auto Service has 18 retail locations throughout Southern Louisiana and 150 employees. The company is mostly focused on retail tire sales and automotive services, though about 12% of its overall sales are tied to commercial clients.
Under Barron’s watch, Chabill’s Tire & Auto Service has grown and focused on maximizing the service it provides to customers. She hasn’t drastically changed the company’s footprint or number of stores since taking on the role of CEO, but instead has dialed in on the processes and people in the operation. She’s made changes she knows her father never would have even considered, but also says Chabill’s Tire & Auto Service remains fully committed to providing customers with world-class customer service.
“Our business is better than it’s ever been,” she says.
Modern Tire Dealer Publisher Greg Smith says Barron is a confident, well-thought-of leader in the tire industry. “Beth utilizes and invests in the best resources in the business, and she is dedicated to ensuring Chabill’s Tire & Auto Service remains a vibrant and profitable operation. The team at MTD is thrilled to celebrate her accomplishments.”
A donation of $12,500 from Modern Tire Dealer and Chabill’s Tire & Auto Service’s suppliers will be made in Barron’s name to Club Blue, an organization that pairs young professionals with leadership and volunteer opportunities while connecting them to youths at Boys & Girls Clubs.
The participating sponsors include:
American Omni Trading, Autel, AutoZone Inc., Bridgestone/Firestone CFNA, Cintas, Convirza, Dealer Development Group, Gaubert Oil, Hunter Engineering Co., Independent Tire Dealers Group LLC, Louisiana Tire & Automotive Services Association (LTASA), Michelin North America Inc., Mighty Auto Parts, Myers Tire Supply, NAPA Auto Parts, National Tire Wholesale, Nitto Tire U.S.A. Inc., Pirelli Tire, Podium, RoadX Tires, Texoma Tire Buyers, TireHub and U.S. AutoForce.
This is the 32nd year Modern Tire Dealer has presented its Tire Dealer of the Year Award. Barron joins a list of industry icons who have won the award. And though two other women have won the award previously alongside their husbands, Barron is the first woman to win the award on her own.
Nominees for the Tire Dealer of the Year Award are evaluated on their business success, marketing and management skills, industry knowledge and community involvement.
Modern Tire Dealer has been the industry’s leading publication since 1919 and is known for its market research and analysis. The brand is owned by Endeavor Business Media.