EXCOM Member

Jeff Elhart is the president and owner of Elhart Automotive Campus, a family-owned dealership founded in 1965 and located in Holland, Michigan. Jeff has been partners over the years with his father Ken, who retired in 1990, and his brother Wayne, who retired in 2010.  Jeff and his family have been touched by the effects of depression and suicide through the death of his brother Wayne on March 27, 2015, to suicide. He and his family have dedicated their lives to bringing mental illness awareness and suicide prevention education through the collaboration with The Mental Health Foundation of West Michigan “be nice.” program.  Consequently, Jeff has initiated donor advised funds for the purpose of providing matching funds for the “be nice.” program to benefit schools in the West Michigan area.  The efforts have resulted in creating five donor-advised funds through five community foundations already impacting over 100,000 K-12 students.  Additionally, the efforts have included bringing mental illness awareness and suicide prevention education to numerous businesses, churches, non-profits, and veteran groups. 

Jeff is a graduate of General Motors Institute with a degree in marketing and finance.  Upon graduation in 1981, Jeff and his wife Cherie moved to Richmond, Virginia. There, Jeff served as a district sales manager for GMC Truck and Cherie managed a home health care business. In 1983, they moved back to their hometown of Holland, Michigan, where Jeff joined the family business and has been there since. Besides running the dealership and being involved with the Mental Health Foundation of West Michigan, Jeff serves as a deacon with Christ Memorial Church; a member of the Nissan National Dealer Council and GMC Advertising Association Board. He is also past Commodore of the Macatawa Bay Yacht Club and past president of the Holland Area Chamber of Commerce and the Holland Economic Development Corporation.