Steward Holman believed in a simple approach to business – find one customer, treat them right, and then you have earned the right to go find the next customer. That focus on people became an enduring foundation that built Holman. Now, after 100 years, it remains a family-owned business but has grown to become a global organization that spans much of the automotive and fleet industries.

In 1924, the company began as a single Ford dealership in Merchantville, New Jersey. Now, the company of more than 9,000 employees spans from upfitting and manufacturing to powertrain distribution, commercial vehicle equipment, automotive retailing, and fleet management. 

During Holman Drive24, an annual event for fleet partners and customers now in its seventh year, company leadership shared where the company has been and where it is headed. Holman hosted this year's event at the Fontainebleau Miami Beach.

During the event, CEO Chris Conroy shared details of what the company calls the Holman Experience, its approach to people. It is based on three key pillars, which are:

• Ease – Make it easy to work together.

• Expertise – Share our knowledge to help customers succeed.

• Relationships - Build partnerships founded in trust and confidence.

“Our fleet business was started in 1948, and many of us have been here for a long time, but I don't know that we have ever been as purely focused on making sure that we treat our people that we work with every day the right way while continuing to deliver exceptional value,” Conroy said. “We are truly working to do what is right for our customers.”

Based on those pillars, Holman believes in following four key practices that state, in every interaction:

• I am welcoming.

• I am helpful.

• I listen and anticipate needs.

• I deliver.

“This is a bit of an internal beacon for us. But our purpose as a company at Holman is that we want for those that come to work at our company to create a better life for them and their families,” Conroy shared with the Holman Drive 24 attendees.

Conroy quickly pointed out that it might be strange to hear from a customer’s perspective that the employee is Holman’s main focus. But, he explained in the end, such a focus on its employees means the customer is better served.

“We fully believe, if we create that purpose and we live to that purpose, as a result, we're going to create a terrific experience for our customers,” Conroy added.

Celebrating a Milestone

While the opening of Holman Drive 24 paid tribute to the company’s 100^th anniversary, that did not mean the celebration was just beginning. It has been ongoing. Conroy shared that Holman had already held 11 celebrations across its global footprint. 

“What happens when you're 100 years old?” asked Conroy. “What do you do when you have a birthday? Well, you have big party. We actually had 11 parties, starting in early March in South Florida. Our leadership team got in front of over 15,000 of our internal partners, their families, kids, spouses, partners, and it was just so rewarding.”

Holman took the celebration on the road, from a winery in Oregon to a horse racetrack in England and even the North Carolina State Fair.

“Seeing the magnitude of our influence and the impact that we make on those people and their lives as somebody that employs now almost 10,000 people was pretty, pretty profound,” he added.

Who Holman is in 2024

Holman is in seven different business verticals, each falling basically within one of two segments – commercial and retail automotive.

The verticals are:

• Retail automotive – 74 franchises, 34 brands, 9 states, and 4,500 employees

• Fleet management – 2.1 million vehicles managed, across the US, UK, Canada, Mexico, and Germany; and 2,900 employees.

• Upfitting – 11 North American locations, OEM and ship-thru, and 935 employees.

• Commercial vehicle equipment – 4 urgent upfit locations, 3 warehouses, and 66 employees.

• Powertrain – 24 North American locations, parts distribution for Ford, GM, Stellantis, and Mercedes; and 100 employees.

• Insurance - 50 state licensures, 80 captives manage, and 75 employees.

• Small business solutions – 5,154 vehicles managed, 22 channel partnerships, and 40 employees.

He touched on the 2024 acquisition of Leith Automotive Group in North Carolina, and explained it is the largest acquisition in Holman's history. Also, it was unique in that the deal encompassed 30 car dealerships in one state. 

“We define ourselves as an automotive services company, and hopefully you can make the connection as to why that's important for you - everything in our world is evolving, certainly from a disruptive place in the automotive industry,” Conroy said.

Holman's Company Vison

“Our vision is to be an exceptional place to work and company to do business with by delivering world-class products and services to ensure Holman’s relevancy for generations to come,” Conroy said. “Alright, there's a lot there, but these are very specific words that, to me, are important.”

Number one, he said, is he wants Holman to be a “really cool place to work.”

Protect, Strengthen, & Grow

What keeps Conroy up at night? He even shared that with the Holman Drive audience.

“I think primarily about relevancy, and relevancy from the perspective of a family business that's been around for 100 years, making sure that that next 100 years has products and services that will meet the demands of all of you when we look forward to the next decade and beyond,” Conroy shared.  “We have three very specific business priorities. Protect, strengthen, and grow.”

As he dug into those three business priorities, Conroy first dealt with protect.

Number one under protect, he said, is to make sure Holman has the right talent in the right place and that those employees are empowered to do the things they need to do and are provided the right tools. Also, the company wants to measure itself against its goals and use analytics to operate the business better. A third component is also investing in the team and focusing on providing leadership development.

The second pillar, strengthen, is exemplified by Holman’s multi-year investment in technology, processes, and procedures throughout the business.

“You’re going to start to see the benefits of that,” he told the audience.

There will also be more retail integration, according to Conroy, bringing together dealerships and scaling some of the company’s central services. 

The growth focus will also include expanding Holman’s investment practice to diversify its business further and allocating capital for investment in both venture and growth-oriented opportunities.

Still a Family Business

Holman genuinely is still a family business, with a member of the third generation — Mindy Holman — serving as chair of the board. However, she is not the only family member working at Holman. She is one of three members of the third generation and now seven fourth-generation family members also work at Holman.

After Mindy Holman joined Conroy on stage, he asked what she thought her grandfather, the founder, would think of the company now.

“Well, my grandfather certainly would be amazed at the growth and the diversity of businesses and how far we've spread out. When he was here, we were just in New Jersey and Florida, and now, of course, we're doing business across the country and in five different countries, and so he'd be amazed by that,” she said.

Holman said her dad, who passed away nearly five years ago, also would be amazed. The company’s retail platform has doubled. 

The third generation at the helm of the board said that although the company has gotten much bigger since her grandfather’s days, the core of the company has not changed. It is still focused on its people, and customers.

“My dad always used to say, ‘I don't understand how we are so fortunate to have all these wonderful people who come to work for us every day.’ And I think he would find that's still the same. There's just, more of us, we've been able to be more successful, and we've been able to invest more in the communities around us and make a bigger impact,” she said.

Now, with the third and fourth generations so entrenched in the family business, she doesn’t see a time when Holman would ever not remain as a family business.

“Plan A is for us to be a family-owned business for generations to come, and we have no plan B. The seven fourth generations are thinking that they want to carry this on into the future; it's really important for us, and we're excited about it.”