Meet Linda and Dennis Giles

Drumroll please! We’re proud to announce our winners for LoseBaby, our annual company-wide weight-loss competition. Between January and April this year, LoseBaby participants swapped recipes, motivational quotes and even yoga poses with each other to try to become healthier. While body-weight percentages were recorded to find the winner, the theme of this year's competition was stress reduction. Participants all signed waivers to guarantee that all new habits were in fact safe, natural ways to become healthier. The two winners (one male and one female) each took home $500 at the end of the competition. And now, here are our 'biggest losers’: Julia Brown and Tommy Swords are our 2017 LoseBaby Winners! Julia Brown — Warranty Cancellation Administrator Brown won through hard work and intense commitment. She stuck to a high-protein diet (“Eat protein until you never want to see another chicken or fish!”) and became a regular in both the cardio and weight rooms at the gym. Brown's advice to anyone looking to develop a healthier lifestyle is simple: “Get off the sugar and eat more vegetables and lean meats. Go to the gym, and just walk more.” Her motivation came from a few places. Last year, Brown came in second-place in the LoseBaby competition. She said that she kept that fact in the back of her mind this year, and it helped to push her even further. And, with a daughter who is a body-builder and coworkers who join her at the gym each morning, Brown has a support system to combat even the most unmotivated feeling. Acknowledging the need for moderation, Brown did take a break once during the competition, during a vacation to Biloxi, Mississippi. She plans on spending her $500 cash prize on another vacation this summer. However, Brown says she’s not finished losing. “I still have a goal. I’m still working. I still go to the gym every morning.” Tommy Swords - Business Manager Swords says he owes his success to the Atkins Diet, especially since his routine featured “not a drop of exercise.” When LoseBaby was announced, he decided to utilize the 90-day timeline. “I was planning on going on a diet anyway, so I just decided to win the contest!” Swords said, laughing. Swords speaks highly of Atkins, calling it the perfect diet for him. Though the diet focuses on lowering carbohydrates intake, Swords still ate whatever he wanted. He called this the key to success. “Find the right diet for you so that you won’t get bored, and commit to it,” he said. Though he didn’t originally plan to give away all of his winnings, Swords is donating his entire prize to Rabbi Kirt Schneider. He’s so fond of Atkins that he says he’s happy to go back to it at any time. However, that didn’t stop him from visiting Dairy Queen after his final weigh in for LoseBaby. -- -- -- -- Congratulations to all of our winners and a huge shoutout to everyone who participated! We’ll see you next year! Women Winner: Julia Brown - 7.1% 2nd Place: Ashley Stevens - 5.9% 3rd Place: Nicole Cain - 5.7% Men Winner: Tommy Swords - 12.9% 2nd Place: Andy O'Harrow - 7.4% 3rd Place: Jeff Hennen - 5.4%

We’ve always been proud to have Certified Technician Travis Baxter in our Chevrolet Service Department. But we’ve been feeling extra proud lately, since Baxer was named a “World Class Technician” by General Motors on October 1. Certified Technician Travis Baxter holds his World Class Technician statue. According to GM’s website, “The program provides technicians with the opportunity to validate their knowledge and demonstrate their skills to their employers and — most importantly — to customers in all automotive service areas.” To sum up, the World Class Technician is “the ‘one and only GM expert.’” Baxter began working toward this highest honor in April 2014, soon after he was hired by Milton Ruben Chevrolet. Milton Ruben sponsored Baxter’s classes, which included online courses and in-person challenges outside of Atlanta. Specifically, he completed nine Master Technician Certifications and their accompanying Automotive Service Excellence Certifications. Baxter says his favorite part was working with his teachers, most of whom were World Class Technicians themselves. By his estimate, Baxter is only one of two World Class Technicians in the CSRA. According to GM, there are currently 1,250 World Class Technicians in the country. Baxter installs camshaft lifters in a Chevy Silverado. Milton Ruben Chevrolet Service Manager Blake Taylor says he’s very proud. “This is good for not only our dealership, but the industry as a whole,” he said about Baxter’s achievement. “It’s a privilege to have him here being the best that he can be.” We couldn’t agree more with Taylor. To schedule your Service Appointment, click here or call (706) 955-2243.

We are pleased to announce our winners of the first Lose Baby competition of the year! This time our weight-loss competition, held between Jan. 19 and April 19, 2016, had two winners, as males and females weren’t competing against each other. Both winners received a check for $500 to celebrate their victories. The final results: Men Winner: Eddie Jones (Detail Department) with 12.6 percent of total body weight lost 2nd Place: John Ruffin (Detail Department) with 10.3 percent of total body weight lost 3rd Place: Donovan Sims (Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram Service Department) with 9.5 percent of total body weight lost Women Winner: Connie Johns (Chevy Sales Department) with 6.7 percent of total body weight lost Second Place: Julia Brown (Accounting Department) with 4 percent of total body weight lost Third Place: Nicole Cain (Accounting Department) with 3.2 percent of total body weight lost We spoke with the winners about the habits they developed over three months, and got a few tips on how to stay on track and lose in a healthy way: Lose Baby Winner (Men) Eddie Jones (left) of the Detail Department shakes hands with manager John Ruffin. Ruffin won the first Lose Baby competition in 2015, and had a side competition with Jones (Ruffin placed second in this competition). Eddie Jones attributed his results to diet and will power. Though he still dreams of rice and gravy, he’s given it up. He’s staying away from starches, meaning no white rice and no white bread. After giving up sugary drinks, tea and beer, Eddie only drinks (sometimes flavored) water. His motivation came from the people around him. Eddie’s wife joined Weight Watchers last August, so he was able to learn effective habits from her. And Eddie's manager is John Ruffin, who, after losing 60 pounds, was the first Lose Baby winner in 2015. The two had a side competition going on, with Eddie losing slightly more weight than John. This environment helped Eddie enjoy the competition. “I’m having fun doing it, it’s not like I regret doing anything,” he told us. "And I’m still doing it!” Chevrolet Sales Manager Connie Johns (right) accepts a check from Chevrolet General Manager Chris Snader. The two had a side competition going on during the company-wide weight-loss competition, which helped motivate Johns to become the Lose Baby (Women) champion. While Chevrolet Sales Manager Connie Johns also focused on food (her biggest diet change was not eating late at night), she also revamped her workouts. Connie joined a kickboxing class twice a week, and focused on weight training two other days in the week. Connie offered the following advice: “Never let yourself get hungry, prepare your meals everyday and have a support system in place. Your support group is your best friend when you’re trying to make life changes. And you need to make it fun.” Connie’s support group, luckily, was her fellow Lose Baby participants. To make it fun, she had a side bet (we’re sensing a pattern among our winners) with boss and Chevrolet General Manager Chris Snader. Lose Baby is our ninety-day contest that focuses on healthy weight loss. We keep a confidential record of percentage weight lost per individual, and help one another stay on track with informative and educational materials on proper diet and fitness. Our top priority is overall physical and mental health, being positive, supportive and encouraging throughout, and keeping our eye on successfully working as a team to be a healthier company. We look forward to another Lose Baby competition in the summer. Until then, stay healthy and Lose, Baby!