From Corporate America to Owners of a New Jersey RV Dealership

Alan Libove (left), vice president, Hitcharama RV, and Michael Libove, president, were both executives in corporate America before deciding it was time to start having fun and bought the New Jersey RV dealership.

Are the Brothers Libove
Having Fun Yet?

By To Lavec - Contributing Editor

Take two brothers living separate successful corporate lives, bring them together with someone who has extensive knowledge of the automobile industry and a conscientious comptroller to keep them organized; and you have the foundation for running the most successful RV dealership in the state of New Jersey--Hitcharama.

It's 1985, Michael Libove (current president of Hitcharama) is director of finance for the Latin American division of the Borden Corporation.

He has spent sixteen years working himself up through the ranks and now has become a highly ranked corporate financial executive. He is entering his 25th year in the corporate finance world, and he has over 130 international trips under his belt.

His brother Alan (current vice president of Hitcharama), is also a very successful corporate executive in his own right. He is working for the Sperry Corporation (which was bought out by Borroughs and is known today as Unisys). He also has put in his time, beginning as an electrical engineer, moving to product planning and is now one of the top strategic planning executives in the company.

They both have already achieved what the "average person" sets out to accomplish in a lifetime: professional job security, financial freedom, and individual happiness. But, to put it in their own words, "they aren't having fun anymore!"

At the same time, Jess and Lynn Doughton are running a small, but profitable family RV dealership in southern New Jersey which Jess has built up from a part-time business of installing hitches in his garage (hence-Hitcharama). It was what most people in the business refer to as a 'mom & pop' operation, and according to Alan "mom and pop very astutely recognized that they were probably at their limits to grow the business."

Coincidentally, or as fate would have it, Borden Corporation recently announces the repositioning of its entire international division.

Although Michael is not absolutely certain the term "repositioning" will also entail "downsizing," he sees this as his opportunity to do some repositioning of his own. "I knew my division was being regrouped and reestablished on a product line basis rather than a geographic basis. I was the most senior of the finance directors at the time and I knew they were restructuring because they wanted to cut costs. But that was more timing than anything else. I simply wanted to do something for myself. I took a lot of responsibility in the corporate world for many years, and I was now at the point where I wanted more of the positive results to come back to me. I wanted the satisfaction of knowing what I was doing made sense to me personally." continued