New City Nissan President John Uekawa has been nominated for the 2016 TIME Dealer of the Year Award, presented in cooperation with Ally Financial Inc. and the National Automobile Dealers Association.

A graduate of the University of Hawaii at Manoa and James B. Castle High School, Uekawa began his automotive career in the marketing department at Servco Pacific in 1982, and later was promoted to vice president. He became dealer operations manager for Mazda Motor Corp. of America, and joined New City Nissan in 1995.

“I was given the opportunity of a lifetime by being offered a general sales manager position at a brand-new car dealership, New City Nissan,” Uekawa said in a statement. After a year he was promoted to general manager, and in 1997 he was promoted to president and general manager. He is now a 45 percent stakeholder in the company.

Uekawa has received the Owner First Award of Excellence from Nissan North America multiple times.

“I think our biggest accomplishment is in the progress that we are making in building opportunities for high school student athletes,” Uekawa said.

He is a contributor to a nonprofit organization that builds fields, awards college scholarships and conducts college camps for high school athletes, but also has led efforts to provide school-supply-filled backpacks to children in Kalihi through the Hearts in Action Adopt-A-Keiki Back to School project and gather Christmas presents for the needy through Catholic Charities Hawaii.

Uekawa is among 50 U.S. dealer-nominees who will be honored at the 99th annual NADA Convention & Exposition in Las Vegas on April 1.