Each year the Walter B. Wainwright Key Director Award is presented to a member of the TADA Board of Directors who has contributed the most to the success of the organization. (The award is named for the revered former leader of the Houston Automobile Dealers Association.) This is the only TADA award kept a secret until the moment it is presented.

This year’s winner is Carlos Liriano, Dealer Principal of Lost Pines Toyota in Bastrop, Texas. Carlos is a first-generation dealer who learned the business from the ground up — truly a self-made man. As he learned at an early age, “We started from nothing, but I was taught that with hard work and determination, you can succeed in life.”

His automotive career began directly out of college. He was Rookie Automotive Salesperson of the Year and then moved to become Sales and Finance Manager at the dealership.

Over the course of twenty-five years, he gained valuable experience while climbing the ranks of various automotive organizations. He served as General Manager for numerous stores and developed a proven track record of success as a hands-on, full-time dealer operator. The dealerships he led won numerous awards such as Charter Dealer for Signature Certification, Market Share Leader in both cars and truck sales several years running, multiple President’s Awards, Pinnacle Awards, and TMS Corporate Sales & Service Excellence recognition.

Carlos fulfilled a long-term goal of owning his own dealership when he became Dealer Principal of a new Toyota franchise in March 2012. Due to his concerns for the environment, Lost Pines Toyota became Central Texas’s first and only LEED Gold Certified Auto Dealership. His eco-friendly dealership has eliminated paper consumption by 80%; data is scanned, electronically stored and archived; and the dealership prioritizes using digital tablets throughout the sales department for all credit applications, digital contracting, electronic menus and worksheets, and uses green products whenever possible.

Carlos and his parents emigrated from communist Cuba to New Orleans, Louisiana, when he was nine years old. He became the first in his family to go to college, receiving a bachelor’s degree in Management and Finance from Southeastern Louisiana University. He is a past Time Dealer of the Year nominee, and his dealership is renowned for bringing a little bit of Louisiana to Texas.