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KEITH WHANN BIO KEITH E. WHANN EDUCATION: Hiram College, Hiram, Ohio Cleveland Marshall College of Law, Cleveland, Ohio BAR ADMISSIONS: October, 1984, Ohio Bar WORK EXPERIENCE: February, 1987 - Present I have been engaged in the private practice of law since 1987 and am the founder of the law firm of WHANN & ASSOCIATES, LLC established in 1991 and located in Dublin, Ohio. The focus of my practice is on the representation of businesses in the motor vehicle industry, including motor vehicle dealers, automobile auctions, trade associations and other industry related entities. The emphasis of my practice is on providing general counsel services, litigation and legislative related work throughout the United States and in Washington, D.C., the development of various training, educational and legal compliance programs for the motor vehicle industry and the handling of actions with Federal and State regulatory agencies across the country. August, 1984 - February, 1987 Assistant Attorney General I served for two and one-half years as an Assistant Attorney General in the Ohio Attorney General’s Office handling primarily motor vehicle industry related cases, with an emphasis on odometer rollback, title fraud and other motor vehicle related violations of law, along with being responsible for the enforcement of various statutes which regulated the day-to-day sales activities and operations of entities engaging in consumer transactions. During my tenure as an Assistant Attorney General, I was a member of the National Odometer Enforcement Association and served on its Legislative Committee, and was a member of the fifteen-state Midwest Task Force on Odometer Alterations, serving a term as Chairman of the Organization in 1986. SPECIAL MOTOR VEHICLE INDUSTRY RELATED EXPERIENCE: I have been a featured speaker on various legal, regulatory, consumer protection and other topics of interest related to the motor vehicle industry at conventions and meetings for over 50 National and State industry related trade associations and regulatory agencies. I have also authored over 1000 articles that have been published in trade publications, newspapers and magazines throughout the United States. I appear on the NIADA.TV Network as the on camera talent in dozens of programs discussing various issues related to motor vehicle transactions and the industry as a whole and host a monthly show on NIADA.TV covering legal, regulatory and business issues and developments in the automotive industry. Many of the programs, including the 7 hour National Dealer Compliance & Profitability Expo, were broadcast live on the Network. I have handled legislative and regulatory matters with Congress, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Department of Transportation, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Internal Revenue Service, Department of Justice, Customs and the Office of the Comptroller of Currency. I worked with the Internal Revenue Service and Congress to resolve various taxation issues pertaining to subprime lending and related finance companies, including drafting of revisions to the IRS Audit Technique Guide for the used motor vehicle industry released in October of 2002 and June of 2005. I worked with the FTC in producing the 1998 Edition of the FTC Publication “A Dealer’s Guide to the Used Car Rule” and conducted seminars with the FTC on the Rule and related warranty and sales issues. I also worked with the FTC to obtain a Letter of Opinion dated December 31, 2002 regarding anti-trust tying issues in Limited Warranties and to update and revise the FTC’s Dealer’s Guide to the Used Car Rule, published in June, 2004. I have been involved in the drafting process with the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws to revise Articles 2, 2A and 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code, and the Uniform Computer Information Transactions, Uniform Electronic Transactions and Uniform Consumer Leases Acts. Currently working on the Uniform Certificate of Title Law Project. I created a Dealership Review Program and the Dealership Comprehensive Audit Program (Dealer CAP) for ADP to assist motor vehicle dealerships to increase customer satisfaction and reduce consumer complaints by making their sales and service paperwork more understandable and consumer friendly. I developed and conducted a training seminar on Salvage and Title Fraud for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration at the Inaugural Meeting of the Federal Task Force formed pursuant to the Anti-Car Theft Act of 1992. I conducted a briefing on automotive issues for Russian governmental and motor vehicle industry representatives at the 1998 NIADA Convention. I created and developed the highly acclaimed IndependentDealer.com Website devoted to dealer and consumer issues pertaining to the motor vehicle industry. I appeared on the CNBC News Power Lunch Program discussing subprime lending in the motor vehicle industry and on ESPN discussing the legal and regulatory issues related to consumers test-driving dealership owned vehicles. I have appeared as a featured speaker on a wide range of legal, regulatory and consumer protection issues pertaining to the motor vehicle industry at conventions and/or meetings for or with the following groups: Regulatory Agencies National Groups and Industry Trade Associations State Industry Trade Associations Topics covered in the industry related presentations include: Topics covered in the consumer presentations include: Publications that in the past few years have published some of the articles I have written include:
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