Allie Ash

Allie Ash (born 1946) is the owner of High Road AG, a collection of exotic car dealerships, and Newsletter Holdings, a multi-facet publishing business.
Biography
Ash was born in Fort Worth, Texas in 1946. His family moved many times before settling in Arlington, Virginia, where he graduated from Washington-Lee H.S. After high school, he attended George Washington University where he received both a bachelors and masters degree in accounting.
Professionally, in 1969 he joined the Navy, served until 1972 as a supply corps officer. After returning from the Navy, he went to work in a local CPA firm in Arlington. In 1977, he left public accounting and became the controller of Capitol Publications. In 1984 he lead a leveraged buyout of Capitol Publications, which is known today as Newsletter Holdings, LLC.
Personally, in 1969 he also married his wife Ellen, who has gained notoriety as the designer of a multi-acre garden at their home in Northern Virginia. Allie and Ellen have three children.
Ash originally became interested in cars in 1963, while working as a technical inspector for the SCCA. He saw his first Ferrari race shortly after, at Marlboro Race Track. In 1993, he bought his first Ferrari, an F40.
High Road AG
In 1995, Ferrari of Washington was acquired by Ash and two silent partners. The franchise was opened in Sterling, VA, but outgrew its location and in 2003 was moved to its current Dulles, VA location, a new and larger building in Sterling.
Additional makes were added at the new location, including Maserati in 2002, and Italian competitor Lamborghini in 2005. Together with Ferrari, the auto brands became the three Italian marquee cornerstones for Ash's High Road Auto Group.
High Road AG (or HRAG) also supported a Ferrari racing division. The team, Scuderia Ferrari of Washington, competed in the Ferrari Challenge, SCCA, Grand Am, and the Ferrari Historics, with consecutive Grand-Am National GT championships in 2002 and 2003.
In late 2007 an expansion location, Maserati of Baltimore, was opened in Baltimore County, MD. In April, 2008 a new Lamborghini showroom was unveiled in Sterling, Virginia. Following successful business foundations proving the viability of exotic car dealerships in the Baltimore Washington DC Metro marketplace, Ash's company went public with intentions to sell in 2008.
An ownership change and franchise sale is expected in 2009, with Ash and his LLC partnership group leaving active investment with the Ferrari, Maserati, and Lamborghini marquees.
Newsletter holdings
Originally, Ash started as an "intern" at Capital Publications. Ten years later, in 1977, he joined the staff full-time as the controller. In 1984, after becoming a staple of the company, Ash bought out founder Ken Callaway. The company grew rapidly from this point.
In 1981, KCI Communications was acquired. In 1987, the National Institute of Business Management (NIBM) was acquired from Research Institute of America. In 1992, the Louis Rukeyser investment newsletter was launched. In 2005, additional newsletter acquisitions were made from Business Publishers, Inc.
As of 2008, Newsletter Holdings publishes 17 newsletters, more than 50 special reports, and have a paid circulation of over 600,000 readers. The company is expected to expand into new technology markets for the 2008 year and beyond as media preferences shift.

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