Testimony for the Record — Amanda Grappone Osmer — Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship (April 29, 2026)

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Testimony for the record submitted to the U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship for the April 29, 2026 hearing "American Entrepreneurship for 250 Years: Driving Innovation, Growth and Opportunity" by Amanda Grappone Osmer, President and Chief Vision Officer of Grappone Automotive. Addressed to Chair Ernst and Ranking Member Markey, it recounts the family business's origins as a single gas pump in Concord, New Hampshire, and its becoming an Oldsmobile distributor in 1927. It states that the company has 235 team members and partners with Ford, Mazda and Honda. It reports that New Hampshire's 158 new car and truck dealers employ almost 12,500 people and generate more than $700 million in annual payroll, and describes the company's community giving and entrepreneurial culture.

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Testimony for the Record
Submitted to the U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship
For the Hearing: "American Entrepreneurship for 250 Years: Driving Innovation, Growth and
Opportunity”


April 29, 2026
Amanda Grappone Osmer
President and Chief Vision Officer, Grappone Automotive
530 State Route 3A
Bow, NH 03304

Dear Chair Ernst, Ranking Member Markey, and Members of the Committee,

On behalf of the 235 team members at Grappone Automotive in Bow, and Concord, New
Hampshire, thank you for your service to our great country, and for inviting me here today to tell
you a little bit about the Grappone Automotive story.

My paternal great-great-grandfathers both immigrated from southern Italy to the United States in
1891, leaving behind not only grinding poverty and government oppression, but most of their
family members. Like the millions of other European immigrants during that time, they risked it
all to make a better life in America. A son of one of my great-great grandfathers and a daughter
of the other are my great-grandparents Rocco Grappone and Emanuela D'Orlando. They came to
this country around the turn of the 20th century, one a stone mason with a skilled trade to offer,
the other an illiterate peasant farmer. They married in 1905, and after moves from Boston to New
York City to Barre, Vermont, they finally settled in Concord, New Hampshire where they raised
their seven surviving children. They had followed the granite for years, but stone cutting was a
dangerous line of work and my great-grandmother Emanuela had always wanted her husband
Rocco to find a different way to support the family.

Around 1920, Emanuela and her two eldest daughters went to work in a local factory, making
parts for Ford Model Ts. Their savings, along with Rocco's earnings from the stone shed and the
money made by their children who sold vegetables and wild berries door to door, amounted to
enough to purchase a single gas pump not far from their house in the Italian section of Concord.
They had considered buying a piggery, but decided to take their chances on the automobile craze.

Business was not as brisk as the prior owner had told them it would be - in fact, false receipts
had been manufactured by him to convince the Grappones that they had made the right decision
in buying the filling station - but they persevered. Understanding that the sale of gas alone
wouldn't sustain them, they began servicing and then selling cars, becoming an Oldsmobile
distributor in 1927.
Their son John, my grandfather, began working at Grappone and Sons in grade school, and
worked there for 79 years until his death at age 92. My grandmother, his wife of 71 years,
continued to report to the Ford showroom every day even after his death until she was 98 years
old. Their son Robert, my father, spent a 60-year career at Grappone until his retirement last year,
and after 28 years in the business I became the company's president on January 1 of this year.
Our team is 235 people strong, and we are proud to partner with three of the world's top auto
manufacturers: Ford, Mazda, and Honda. Over the last century our business has gone through
many, many iterations. An entrepreneurial spirit has gotten us to where we are, and I have faith
that it will lead us soundly into the next century of business.

The auto industry is dynamic and is arguably as entrepreneurial an industry as our country has
ever produced. The local dealers who connect the manufacturers to the end consumer are, in
many cases, anchors in their communities. In New Hampshire alone, there are 158 new car and
truck dealers who employ almost 12,500 people. Together we generate more than $700 million in
annual payroll, and support countless vendors, civic groups, and nonprofit organizations. It is not
an overstatement to say that the word Grappone is as tied to community support in my home
state as it is to selling cars, trucks, and parts. For many years we've committed 5% of our annual
net profit to charitable causes.

To me, the presence of entrepreneurialism is a sign of a healthy business ecosystem.
Entrepreneurs are, by nature, creative people, and where creativity exists, so does a sense of
optimism. And where optimism shines its face, fear is not in the driver's seat. A long-held vision
of mine is to create a workplace in which the team feels a sense of agency, to understand not just
that their contributions matter, but also how. It is also important to our company that our team
members feel a responsibility to give back to the community that supports us by buying and
servicing their cars at Grappone. When team members ask if they can help build a kit car with a
local high school, or host an event in our community room, or teach a young person about their
trade, I see this vision come to life. I am proud to say that some of our team members have taken
the brave step to have businesses of their own, in addition to working their day jobs alongside
me. The entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well at Grappone Automotive.

It is alive and well all across New Hampshire. On Monday this week I went back to my alma
mater - the University of New Hampshire - and toured one of their farms where research and
manual labor work alongside each other every day to grow food for the dining hall and local
soup kitchens; then, on the other side of campus, I experienced the Olson Advanced
Manufacturing Center, a coworking facility that serves as a pipeline for trained, skilled workers
who will be able to successfully step into the state’s manufacturing sector with practical
knowledge and experience. Entrepreneurial companies from all across the globe call the Olson
Center their home, and New Hampshire is a great beneficiary. From the farm to the
manufacturing floor, we talked about how to adapt and learn and invent and share, all tools found
in the entrepreneur's toolbox.

My husband and I have three children, and one is very interested in coming into the family
business after he's finished college and seen some more of the world. I am grateful every day that
my ancestors chose a life of curiosity and hard work. Because they followed their entrepreneurial
spirits, the fifth generation of Grappones can step into the business and carry on the tradition of
caring for our team, guests, and community with integrity, kindness, and respect.

Thank you very much for your time today.


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