Editorial
Main News
Other News
Columnists
Calendar of Events
Stores & Stories
It Happened this Week
Real Estate
Restaurants
Sports
Health & Wellness
Automotive
City Notices
Weekly Photos
Classifieds
| | BEVERLY HILLS PEOPLEA Q&A Chat with folks in our city!
STEP JONES
By: Kendra Kozen Courier Staff Writer
Step Jones, Center Operator of Beverly Hills BMW, is a classic example of a self-made success story. He enjoys time with his family and has big plans for the future of the dealership.
Courier: Where are you from?
Jones: I am from a small town of about 20,000 people called LaPorte, Indiana. My father owned a chicken hatchery and I worked in the family business. I do not believe that any one really expected me to amount to much; I was just a regular small town farm boy.
Courier: When did you come to California?
Jones: I was fortunate to come to California in the early 70s, where I worked in San Diego and went to school at the University of California in San Diego.
Courier: Tell me about your education.
Jones: I graduated with a degree in philosophy. I thought that for some time I would like to be a minister in the United Methodist Church. This did not work out for me.
Courier: How did you get into the automobile industry?
Jones: My grandfather was a car salesperson in Indiana, so one day I applied at a car dealership and I was hired as a salesperson. I moved to Los Angeles in the late 70s and worked for a company where I worked in the customer relations program, and did some sales training. I got my first salesperson job for Center BMW in the Valley in December of 1979, where I became the General Sales Manager. I was fortunate enough to buy my own dealership in the mid-80s, but I went broke by the end of the 80s and went back to selling cars on the retail showroom floor.
Courier: Tell me about your family.
Jones: I met my wife Marina in the early 90s and we got married in 1993. At the time we were both broke, and just had enough money to go to Club Med and have a Nevada wedding with just close family. We now have a 3-year-old son named Chance.
Courier: How did you come to run Beverly Hills BMW?
Jones: By the early 90s I knew that I had to have a better program for achieving and living life, and developed my own success system that helped me become successful and eventually taking me to Beverly Hills BMW in December of 1997. Since then I have tried to be a good member of the community and have upgraded Beverly Hills BMW to be a world-class dealership.
Courier: What does the future hold for your dealership?
Jones: We are getting ready to invest more than $25-million in two properties in Beverly Hills to build a new state-of-the-art service and sales facility. This new facility will protect residents by being self-contained buildings: where once a car comes in, it stays in. The only people driving on the streets will be customers of Beverly Hills BMW because over 80 percent of our customers are from the area. Without us, many would have to travel miles for service.
Courier: When will the new facility be completed?
Jones: We hope to complete the service center in three years and sales facility in a year and a half after completion of the service facility. We believe these new facilities will serve the community of Beverly Hills the way our clients want.
Courier: Do you have many celebrity clients?
Jones: We have many celebrity clients, and we like to protect them, so we don t make them feel uncomfortable at the store. That is why we don t have any celebrity pictures on the wall. What we do have on the wall is some of the charities and community events that we have donated to for the last six years: the Blind Children s Center, The Maple Counseling Center, The Drive for Literacy, The Beverly Hills fire and police departments and more.
Courier: How else are you involved in the community?
Jones: I am very fortunate to be the President-Elect of the Beverly Hills Chamber, and look forward to being a positive citizen in the city of Beverly Hills. It is a great privilege to work in Beverly Hills and contribute to the great city that it is.
Courier: How do you spend your free time?
Jones: My spare time is spent with my family and my son.
| | |
