The 2004 AWIB Entrepreneurial Leadership Award Winner - Eleanor Wang Felbaum

Vacaville Pontiac-Buick-GMC is an automobile dealership located in Vacaville, California. It is the only Asian-woman owned and among a handful of women-owned GM dealerships. The company recorded sales of $28 million in 2003 and a 33% growth increase in the past three years.

Eleanor Wang Felbaum's career in the automotive business started in 1979. As a student at UC Berkeley double majoring in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, she worked as a porter in an automobile dealership. From stocking and washing cars, she moved up to selling them and eventually to operating a dealership as a General Manager.

Passionate about the business, Eleanor applied to General Motors' minority dealer development program, and was accepted. She bought her own dealership in 2000 with funding support from GM. Her biggest challenge - the dealership she took over had been operating in the red, had a poor business reputation in the community and required a relocation of the dealership to a more accessible freeway location. Eleanor got heavily involved in the community and by word of mouth, her reputation spread and not only did she turn the ailing dealership around, but did it so well that she was nominated "Rookie of the Year" by her peers.

Three years later, she had tripled her sales and had 47 employees on payroll including those from the dealership she'd taken over. She even paid off GM in half the time of the buy-out period that was originally forecast.

In August 2003 the search for a better location for her dealership culminated in a groundbreaking ceremony in Vacaville - where her dealership is now located. It is a state of the art facility and according to Eleanor, "perhaps the best in the county. Something we're very proud of." She attributes her success to hard work, community involvement in building people's trust and the quality of her employees. For good employees, she says, "inspect what you expect." Eleanor sits down with each employee on a regular basis to evaluate and motivate.

Running an automobile dealership has her routinely putting in at least 12 hours a day, 6-7 days a week. Lending a hand is Larry, her General Sales Manager and husband of 21 years (a record of sorts in the highly stressful automotive dealership business, Eleanor jokes). Even eleven year-old daughter Casie, who comes into the dealership after school helps out after homework's done, until Eleanor is ready to go home and be 'mom'.

Despite the high-stress business and long hours, she's heavily involved in community activities, with special focus on after-school children's programs, fundraising for the homeless, and medical foundations.

Her advice to aspiring Asian women entrepreneurs, "there is no magic to success. Believe in yourself and work hard. Treat people the way you want to be treated."

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