The fund’s $2,500 travel grants honor Chuck Sulkala and his late son, Chad.
The Sulkala Family Fund is asking collision repair facilities, insurers, suppliers and individual industry members to sponsor travel grants that send qualified SkillsUSA state winners in collision-related competitions to the national championships.
A $2,500 sponsorship covers travel, lodging and contest-related expenses for one state winner who might otherwise be unable to afford the trip to the SkillsUSA National Leadership & Skills Conference (NLSC). The 2027 conference is scheduled for June 21-25 in Atlanta.
SkillsUSA’s national contests in Collision Repair Technology, Automotive Refinishing Technology and Collision Damage Appraisal put the strongest entry-level candidates in front of an industry facing a persistent technician shortage; I-CAR staff and instructors judged the Collision Repair Technology competitions in 2026. Travel costs can keep qualified state champions from making the trip.
“When a collision-repair student wins at the state SkillsUSA competition, the next step is Nationals, your sponsorship helps cover a travel grant so skill—not expenses—decides who competes,” said Charles S. “Chuck” Sulkala, co-founder of the National Auto Body Council (NABC).
The fund invites sponsors to join “Team Chad,” named for Chuck Sulkala’s son, Charles Edward “Chad” Sulkala, who died unexpectedly May 31, 2025, at age 54.
Chad Sulkala joined the family business, Acme Body and Paint in Boston’s Jamaica Plain neighborhood, in 1998 and later worked at Allstate, Esurance and CCC Information Services. He held leadership roles with the Society of Collision Repair Specialists (SCRS), I-CAR, NABC and the Collision Industry Electronic Commerce Association (CIECA), which presented him its Outstanding Leadership Award in 2017. As chair of the Collision Industry Conference (CIC) Estimating Committee, he led development of the “Gap Statement,” which defines the labor and materials needed to bring a repaired panel to the standard of a new, undamaged panel. He was inducted posthumously into the Collision Industry Hall of Eagles in November 2025.
Chuck Sulkala spent more than 50 years in the industry. He led Acme Body and Paint before co-founding NABC, which he served as executive director until retiring at the end of 2017. Under his leadership, NABC launched its Recycled Rides and First Responder Emergency Extrication (F.R.E.E.) programs, and its initiatives included support for Camp Mak-A-Dream and Hurricane Katrina relief. He also chaired I-CAR, SCRS and CIC. I-CAR presented him its Lifetime Contribution Award in 2017, and, like his son, he is a member of the Hall of Eagles.
Contributions to the Sulkala Family Fund are processed through the Collision Repair Education Foundation (CREF), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, and are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law, according to the fund’s website. The fund itself is not a 501(c)(3).
Prospective sponsors can also contact the fund at info@sulkalafamilyfund.org.
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