Fletcher Lord III is the fourth-generation leader of his family business—Parts Warehouse Inc.—located in Little Rock, Arkansas. Even though he grew up surrounded by the business, he didn’t always work for it. In 1995, he went off to college at the University of Arkansas and graduated in 1995. From there, he worked independently—as general manager of a NASCAR racing team—in North Carolina for seven years.

“In the words of my father, I needed to 'go figure out the world and work for someone else, and learn a little bit about business,’” Lord said.

After “working for someone else”, Lord moved back to Little Rock in 2005 and has worked for Parts Warehouse Inc. for the past 20 years.

“Handling the company-owned stores and working with sales has been my area of focus here,” Lord said. “I’ve gone from working behind the counter, to a floater, and then a district manager that ran multiple stores for the company. Later on, I became our sales manager and eventually took on the role that I'm currently in of President, CEO of Parts Warehouse Inc., in 2019.”

This ground-up experience Lord had within his career has shaped how he has approached leadership for the past seven years.

Leading From Within

As president and CEO, Lord has focused on identifying and developing the right people to move the company towards success.

“We can train anyone on the processes we have, but it’s important to find someone who's dedicated, wants to learn, and is able to manage themselves and people,” Lord said. “It's easy and hard in a management role to look out and see the risers. You need to make sure you’re moving those people to the best position.”

At the same time, Lord has also focused on maintaining a balance between company-owned and independent stores.

“We knock on doors and talk to a lot of people inside our territory,” Lord said. “It’s important to make sure their stores are on our truck routes and things like that before merging. The past couple of years, we've filled in stores on our truck routes quite well.” Because of this, Parts Warehouse Inc.’s store count of independent to company-owned is getting close to 50/50. This strategy has helped strengthen distribution efficiency and relationships across the company.

“It's fun, because those independent customers have options,” Lord said. “They have a lot of people that they can buy parts from, but they chose our family and our business to be a part of and grow together with. I'm proud that we're doing a good job and taking care and growing with them.”

At the beginning of 2026, Lord also took on the exciting role of AWDA Chair.

Continuing Legacy

In this new role, Lord hopes to continue the legacy of Ashlee Arnold—the previous AWDA Chair—and maintain and encourage communication and community within the aftermarket industry.

“This role is all about learning what we need to do better, and we can learn this by talking to others,” Lord said.

As the world continues to advance, the aftermarket industry must look at figuring out how the industry can adapt.

“It’s important that we recognize the industry has changed, and we need to change to keep up with it,” Lord said. “I'd like to get input from others during this year and see what we can adjust to make us better as an industry.”

Continuing to encourage communication and adaptation within the industry will ensure success within the next five years.

Adapting to Change

Proof of this is the adaptability the aftermarket showed within the past five years. The unpredictability of COVID-19 and the resulting surge in the demand for parts—beginning in 2019—brought about unprecedented change. The industry’s ability to adapt and work together helped it to weather the storm.

“It’s been a little bit of a whirlwind,” Lord said. “We’ve always been used to slow, steady growth, but now cars are adapting, and car SKU counts are growing. Not only that, but there are more cars out there.”

To ensure the future success of Parts Warehouse Inc. and its aftermarket peers, Lord must look at how best to lead his team—and the industry—into the next chapter. “I would like everyone to make more money, and all grow together,” Lord said. “I’d like the industry to strengthen itself and rise together.”

Lord predicts that Artificial Intelligence will play a huge role in reshaping how distributors and retailers function. He believes this will be especially notable when it comes to purchasing, inventory, and workforce development.

“We all know that there's going to be a piece of AI,” Lord said. “Knowing that, we need to ask ourselves, ‘What kind of people are going to use it and how will AI improve us all?'" By investing in people, strengthening partnerships, and encouraging industry-wide collaboration, Lord is ensuring that both his company and the aftermarket continue to grow together.