Pub. 2 2013 Issue 2

10 San Diego Dealer How did you become a dealer? Share your background. I was born into the business —my dad, Marvin K. Brown, was a dealer before me. He started the dealership in 1950. After I got out of school in 1961, I came to Marvin K. Brown Auto Center to work on a trial basis. I really enjoyed it so I stayed with the company. In 1964, I became the dealer when my father died at age 55 and stayed in the role through the end of 2012. In the first quarter of 2013, I passed the dealer reigns to my daughter, Jenny Brown, who is currently on the NCDA board. Where did you go to school? I went to La Jolla High School and then to the University of Arizona in Tucson, where I received a B.S. degree in BPA. I then attended General Motors Institute in Flint, MI for an intensive program in "retail automotive." What was the most rewarding part of your career? Being a car dealer, I’ve had many opportunities to take part in some large events. The most rewarding experience for me down through the years was the year and a half I served as the chairman of Super Bowl XXXII in 1998. After experiencing and surviving the industry’s most challenging economic period in its history a few years ago, what lessons did you learn? It wasn’t just this last challenging economic period I learned from — I’ve been through so many ups and down through the years: the oil crisis, strikes, GM going bankrupt and so on. With so many variations, uncertainties and traumas we’ve had in the industry, I’ve just learned the most valuable lesson of all — patience. What do you thinkmakes the San Diego County automotivemarket different than other markets around the state? We have a very high concentration of foreign cars so that makes it a challenge for a domestic dealer, but it’s not much different from the rest of the state. What inspired you to serve in a leadership position? After I got my company squared away, I wanted to contribute to the industry, to the community and to other dealers. Tell us about your experience on the board of NCDA. I first served as Chairman of NCDA in the early ‘70s. A few years later, the association had some struggles with losing membership and had some other organizational challenges. We needed to raise more money and bring in more dealers to the association, and because I had been heavily involved and knewmost deal- ers personally, they called me back in to help with these chal- lenges. We formed a committee, contacted each dealer personally and convinced a lot of the fellas who had not been members that it was worthwhile to join the association. Our committeewas able to substantially increase the membership that year. Are you involved in any civic or charitable organizations? I’ve been very involved in the community for the past 35 to 40 years. I was Founding President o f t he S a n D i ego C r ime Commission, one of the found- ers of the San Diego Holiday Bowl Football Game, Vice Chairman of the U.S. Open Golf Tournament in 2008, and I’ve served on several different boards. By Shauna Guerrero Jim Brown An Interview with Former Dealer