Pub. 56 2015-2016 Issue 2

6 An Interviewwith Mike Smith 2016 TADA Chairman How did you become a car dealer? Did you always aspire to be part of the automotive industry? Well, our family has been in the au- tomobile business since 1917, I’m a third generation dealer. I started work at Russell & Smith Ford-Honda after graduating from The University of Texas in 1978. I worked in various departments and at- tended the NADA Dealer Academy. In 1982, our family, the Smith family bought an Oldsmobile Honda Dealership in Beau- mont, Texas which became Mike Smith Auto Plaza. After 6 months we obtained an AMC Jeep Renault franchise as it was known back then. We added numerous other franchises over the years. I was a new car dealer in Beaumont for 24 years. In 1995, Group 1 was founded and taken public in 1997. Our family was one of the original three founding groups of Group 1, and my brother Charles was on the Board. The Beaumont Dealerships rolled into Group 1 and I stayed with Group 1 until 2006. When I left Beaumont, we had 13 franchises. I moved back to Houston and bought into Russell & Smith Ford-Honda- Mazda. So I came full circle from where I originally started. Do you have family members in the auto industry? My grandfather was a Chevrolet Buick dealer in Yorktown, Texas and started in 1917. My father grew up in Yorktown and my mother grew up in Houston and is a native Houstonian. After World War II they moved to Yorktown and planned on being there for just a few years, and then plan a move to Houston and buy a dealer- ship. My grandfather died during that period and my parents stayed in Yorktown for almost 25 years. My parents moved to Houston in 1965 and my dad bought into what was originally Ivy Russell Ford and it became Russell & Smith Ford. Since then, the Smith family bought out the Russell family, about 6 years ago. My brother, Bill, was my partner when I moved back to Houston. However my nephew, Chase Smith, who is Charles’ son, bought out Bill in 2012. Chase is President of our company and my partner. My son, Jordan, is learning the business and is pres-