Herb Chambers is one of America’s great success stories. He was born and raised in Dorchester, Massachusetts. Herb went into the Navy prior to finishing high school. There he was selected to work in electronics, a skill that would serve him well. After Herb’s discharge from the Navy he took a job repairing copy machines for American Photocopy Equipment Company (APECO) in Boston. While he enjoyed his work as a Technician, Herb realized that the real opportunity was in sales and was soon one of the top sales people in the country for APECO.

By 1965, Herb realized that he was capable of doing more than just working for APECO. He wanted to start his own business. He borrowed a thousand dollars and with that stake he drove to Hartford and founded A-Copy America, which became the largest independent office equipment dealer in the country.

In 1983 Alco Standard, a Fortune 500 company, made Herb an offer he could not refuse and A-Copy became part of Alco Office Products known today as Ikon Office Solutions.
Herb had always been a car enthusiast. In 1985 he went to purchase a new Cadillac in New London Connecticut and became so frustrated at the way he was treated, he did not buy the Cadillac, he bought the dealership. The acquisition of other dealerships followed soon thereafter.

Today the Herb Chambers Companies are comprised of thirty-seven automobile dealerships representing twenty-four different franchises in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. They are the largest automobile dealership group in New England and the sixth largest privately held automobile company in the United States. Their sales are in excess of one and a half billion dollars and they have over fifteen hundred employees.

In 2003 Herb Chambers was named Ward’s Dealer of the year out of twenty-two thousand
five hundred dealerships in the country. His company has earned more J.D. Power Certified Retailer Awards than any other automobile dealership in North America.

Although best know n for his business acumen and success, Herb Chambers has also quietly donated generously to a number of charitable organizations over the years. Herb Chambers and his dog Lucky reside in Boston, Massachusetts and Old Lyme, Connecticut.

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