Donna Washut

Donna Washut

Donna’s involvement in the automotive industry began many years before her employment with ASA-WA.  Donna and her husband (Leon Martinsen) were in the automotive dismantling business and both very active members of our association back in the 70’s, which at that time was called IGO, The Independent Garage Owners of Washington.  In 1973 our association was renamed ASC, the Automotive Service Councils of Washington and in 1986 became ASA, the Automotive Service Association of Washington, as we know it today.  Donna was very active in all three of our industry associations.

In 1992 Donna joined Pete & Cherie Hunt and became the third employee of ASA-WA.  Donna’s dedication and support contributed greatly to the success of ASA-WA.  Donna watched our association grow since the 1970’s and had been very influential in its growth and success.  In 1985 a group of women formed the ASA-WA Ascettes, and Donna was very instrumental in the formation of this active group.  Donna was voted to serve as the 1987-88 State President of the Ascettes.  Since the formation of this group Donna worked hard to encourage more participation from the women of our association.

Donna also was instrumental in the success of the Pierce County I-CAR program and in 2006 was presented with the Western Region I-CAR Founder’s Award. In 2001 Donna received her AAM designation from the Automotive Management Institute in Hawaii.

Donna retired from ASA-WA on January 31, 2008, but did not stay retired for very long.  In April of 2008, Donna became the editor of our monthly publication, the Dateline that was founded by Frank Hanna in 1986. Donna took the Dateline the next level as a web based publication now being sent to more than 2000 emails monthly.