Mining Automotive Treasure

How Sanford ‘sandy’ Woods Plots A New, Bountiful Course For His Dealership Group As He Passes It On To His Daughter

- Kenneth Meeks

FOLKLORE SAYS PIRATES SUCH AS BLACKBEARD buried their treasures along the Eastern Florida Coastline between what is now a small town called Stuart, running up to Sebastian, just on the other side of Vero Beach. Sanford L. Woods, who prefers to be called “Sandy,” says he hears about people finding Spanish gold coins called doubloons all the time along this region of the Atlantic shoreline. It’s also where his dealerships, Treasure Coast Lexus and Treasure Coast Toyota, have gained their names. He is the CEO and Chairman of S. Woods Enterprises Inc., the parent company of these two successful franchises.

Woods concedes that he hasn’t discovered Spanish gold himself, but he has managed to generate substantial wealth. And now, after more than 45 years in the automotive industry, he is seeking to pass on his bounty and the day-to-day operations of his treasured business to the next generation. His youngest daughter, Amber, is practically steering the ship in an industry that’s changing as quickly as the tides.

Witnessing the elder Woods interact with Amber, his stellar crew of salespeople and mechanics, and back-office support team is to view an admirable display of leadership at its best. 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.