Gary Peterson

Gary retired from the USAF in 2013 after 23 years. He served as a Logistics Officer and was most recently a member of the USAF IG team. He deployed four times for Operations IRAQI and ENDURING FREEDOM (OIF/OEF) and multiple overseas tours to include the Republic of South Korea. He is married and lives in Albuquerque, NM.

He owns two businesses: One Community Auto and Rt 66 Auctions. They help charities sell their donated vehicles through the auction method. The auction company also does real estate, personal property, business, and government surplus auctions. He holds the AARE designation and is in his third year of the CAI program.

Gary graduated from Worldwide College of Auctioneering and is also a Boots to Business graduate. In 2016, he graduated from SBA’s Emerging Leaders program, and in 2017, he completed the Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities (EBV) at Purdue University. Additionally, in 2018, he participated in the EBV-Accelerate program at LSU. These programs have helped him grow his business and in 2017 he was awarded SCORE’s America’s Small Business Grand Champion and in 2018 was named SBAs New Mexico Veteran Business of the Year. He graduated the SBAs THIRVE program in 2022 and was also named SBA New Mexico Minority Small Business of the Year. He continues to grow his business while supporting the community.