This is the single greatest honor in the motor vehicle industry, intended to honor a career and/or lifetime achievement. To become a "Hall of Famer" the nominee must be either retired or deceased. Recipients must have significantly impacted the development of the automobile or the motor vehicle industry. Typically, four to eight individuals are inducted each year.
If an entrepreneur is someone who creates, manages and assumes the risk for a business venture, then H. Wayne Huizenga is an entrepreneur of the highest order.
Huizenga has created or developed six New York Stock Exchange-listed companies, helped grow the largest and third-largest U.S. waste disposal companies, propelled a small video franchise into an entertainment industry giant, owned three professional sports franchises – two of which went on to win national championships -- and created the world’s largest automotive retailer.
Huizenga began his entrepreneurial career by managing three waste collection routes in South Florida as a favor to a family friend. Soon, he had purchased those three routes, plus a fourth commercial route, and called the business Southern Sanitation Services. Huizenga says he grew the company the old-fashioned way. “I went out to businesses and started banging on doors and introducing myself,” he recalled.
Soon the company boasted 40 trucks and, in 1971, merged with a garbage business in Chicago to form Waste Management Inc. WMI went public shortly thereafter and began focusing on acquisitions. During one nine-month period, WMI bought 133 companies. Four years later, the company went international, and, by 1981, it was the largest waste disposal company in the world.
In 1987, a friend brought Huizenga to a local Blockbuster video franchise, with the hope that he would invest in the business. Once Huizenga saw the business plan, he knew it was a good prospect. He bought control of the entire company, subsequently becoming chairman and CEO, and began to reacquire franchises in key markets in an effort to take the company nationwide as quickly as possible.
Blockbuster went public in 1989 and, over a six-year span, opened a new store every 17 hours. At the time Viacom acquired Blockbuster in 1994, Huizenga had successfully and systematically grown the company from a $7 million business with 19 stores to a $4 billion enterprise with more than 3,700 stores in 11 countries.
After the sale of Blockbuster, Huizenga planned and launched AutoNation USA in 1996, the first nationwide auto retailer.
Huizenga had a vision that customers were ready for a change when buying or servicing a vehicle. Those early concepts laid the foundation for the development of public auto retailers, and changed auto retailing forever.
Huizenga’s vision was to build America's largest automotive retailer. AutoNation would go on to acquire most of the more than 370 new vehicle franchises the company operates today. In fact, twice the Company was recognized as one of America’s fastest growing companies.
AutoNation has truly been an industry leader having been named America’s most admired automotive retailer 4 times by FORTUNE magazine. Dominating the Ward’s e-100 as well as the Ward’s 500 top dealerships list. Also becoming the only auto retailer to sell 5 million vehicles, which took place in 9 short years. This milestone still stands today and AutoNation is approaching the sale of its 6 million vehicle. Standard & Poor’s confirms the important role that automotive retailers play in the U.S. economy by naming AutoNation to S&P 500 Index. The only auto retailer to receive this honor.
In 2002, Huizenga retired from AutoNation, having built America's largest automotive retailer. Headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., AutoNation now employs approximately 27,000 people at 272 dealership locations representing 370 new vehicle franchises across 17 states. With over $19 billion in annual revenue, AutoNation ranked #112 on the 2005 Fortune 500 list, outperforming all other automotive retailers in the U.S.
In all his endeavors, Huizenga credits his success to the fact that he has hired top talent for his leadership teams and to a steadfast dedication to customer service. “It’s never just me; it’s ‘we,’ he says. “I take great pride in hiring the right people.”
He also admits to being lucky – being in the right place at the right time – and says he made mistakes, but he always learned from them and moved on. Huizenga is dedicated to giving back to the community, having donated more than $100 million to charitable causes.
