Submitted by Staff Reporter
WEST PALM BEACH, FL -– The Palm Beach County Black Elected Officials organization hosted automobile sales entrepreneur Sanford “Sandy” Woods as keynote speaker for their annual scholarship fundraising event on Saturday, March 23, 11 a.m., at the West Palm Beach Marriott, 1101 Okeechobee Blvd. For decades Wood’s company consistently has been listed as one of the country’s top 20 dealerships on Black Enterprise’s “Auto Dealer 100” list. Among innumerable accolades, Woods was listed in Who’s Who Among African Americans in 2008. He earned a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Association of Minority Auto Dealers in 2015.
The History Makers Digital Depository for the Black Experience cites Woods involvement in many professional organizations within the automotive industry, including serving as a member of the board of directors for Toyota Lexus Minority Owners Dealership Association and as vice chairman of the National Association of Minority Auto Dealers.
Born Feb. 11, 1949 in Dermott, AK, Woods received his B.S. degree in mathematics from Western New Mexico University in Silver City, NM in 1971 on his way to a meteoric career.
In January 1973, Woods was hired by the Chrysler Corporation in Denver, CO as an administrative trainee.
After being promoted to four sales districts in five years, Woods in 1978 was promoted in the Denver zone office to the truck manager, business management manager, and field operations manager three mid-management positions.
In 1982, Woods was promoted to regional manager of Chrysler’s Detroit Import Operations Group, then to Chrysler’s Home Office in Highland Park in 1983, managing dealer placement for the western half of the United States.
Woods next moved to Minneapolis, MN as the assistant zone manager in 1984, then he was promoted two years later to manage Chrysler’s largest sales zone, Washington D.C.
Woods left his 16-year Chrysler career in 1989 to establish the Brandon Dodge automotive dealership, in Tampa Bay, Fla.
As Woods’ businesses expanded to real estate development, restaurants, and automotive collision centers, he consolidated his dealerships and became president of Lexus of Ann Arbor, MI, Infiniti of Ann Arbor, MI, Treasure Coast Lexus, of Fort Pierce, Fla., and Treasure Coast Toyota of Stuart, Fla., as CEO and chairman of S. Woods Enterprises Inc., parent company of the successful franchises.
“Witnessing the elder Woods interact with (his daughter) Amber, his stellar crew of salespeople and mechanics, and back-office support team is to view an admirable display of leadership at its best,” said Black Enterprise in 2018. “He’s applied his managerial prowess, a combination of carefully crafted salesmanship and entrepreneurial fortitude, which has enabled him to navigate his fleet of dealerships to the top of the be 100s.
“With his corporate flag planted solidly in the ground where he’s built his profitable Treasure Coast franchise, S. Woods Enterprises ranks among the nation’s largest Black-owned dealerships, which not only includes the Florida based franchises but Lexus of Ann Arbor, the Michigan-based dealership in which he holds a 51% ownership stake. He recently sold the Infiniti of Ann Arbor, in which he had a 51% ownership stake, for an undisclosed amount.”
