How unusual deal helped a dealership general manager achieve ownership

Jerry Romano, who started working as a technician three decades ago for the late dealer Louis VeDova, has fulfilled a dream to own his mentor's Hawaiian dealerships — through an unusual ownership structure that includes executives from one of the country's major buy-sell firms.

Brady Schmidt, CEO of National Business Brokers Inc. in Irvine, Calif., along with Gary Mull, the firm's director, partnered with Romano and the dealerships' CFO, Wayne Davis, to form Windward Auto Group. The four on Aug. 25 bought Windward Dodge-Chrysler-Jeep-Ram and Windward Hyundai in Kaneohe, Hawaii, north of Honolulu, from VeDova's trust. The longtime dealer died of cancer in June 2020, according to his obituary.

"I worked for him since I was 18 years old," Romano said of VeDova. "As time went on, I eventually became general manager under his tutelage."

Schmidt said his firm had the listing for the two dealerships for at least a couple of years before VeDova's illness. After VeDova died, Romano, the stores' general manager since 2016, continued to operate the dealerships while they remained for sale.

VeDova "was very clear that he had hoped his legacy could kind of continue on, and he really hoped Jerry could figure out a way to continue to be in the business and eventually be one of the owners of the business," Schmidt told Automotive News. "Jerry didn't have the capital himself to be able to buy it."

But as National Business Brokers began looking for financial partners that might go in with Romano, Schmidt and Mull got to know him better, which led to a new idea.

"We realized, 'Gosh, he's a great operator, we really like him, we get along super well. Why don't we partner with him?' " Schmidt recalled.

So that's what they did.

Schmidt and Mull, through a management company, own more than half of Windward Auto Group, while Romano owns about a third.Romano is dealer principal of the Stellantis store, while Schmidt is dealer principal of the Hyundai dealership. Romano remains general manager of both dealerships and handles day-to-day operations.

"One of the reasons we invested and bought the business is because of how good [Romano] actually operates," Schmidt said, noting that he visits the island of Oahu about one to two weeks per month.

It's not the first time a National Business Brokers executive has taken an ownership interest in a dealership.

"We actually have a side of our business where we put management groups together and raise capital and end up sometimes having ownership," Schmidt said.

Schmidt said that part of his business isn't advertised.

"We do that activity quite a bit, and it's actually increased quite a bit," he said. "We're very active right now on a number of deals that we would have ownership in, that we've put the management teams together and are raising the capital."

Schmidt said he also is a partner in Mercedes-Benz of Fresno in California. He described his stake as a small interest.

Romano started working for VeDova as a technician in 1991 at what was then a Dodge- Eagle-Jeep-Isuzu-Subaru store and would go on to become a shop foreman and service adviser, he said.

For Romano, the climb from technician to part owner has been a long time coming and fulfilled a near 2-decade-old personal goal.

"When I became a service adviser is when I started realizing that I wanted to be in management," Romano said. "I set a goal, probably around 2002, that I wanted to be a dealer principal one day."

While VeDova is gone, Romano's longtime boss and mentor left a foundation for the new ownership to build on.

"As far as the success that Mr. V. had for 37 years, I want to duplicate [it] with the family atmosphere and knowing that people are the business," Romano said.

Romano said he also aims to modernize the buildings and grow Windward Auto Group. The group in September opened Jerry V's Honolulu Preowned, a used-vehicle dealership in Honolulu, about a 20-minute drive from the Kaneohe stores.

"That's why we have a great partnership with these gentlemen I've partnered with," Romano said. "We have, I call it, the dream team."