The National Association of Minority Automobile Dealers has a new leader.
Hugene Fields, an industry outsider who has worked in the nonprofit space for 15 years, was named president during the organization’s convention in Miami last month.
Fields, 35, takes the reins from Damon Lester, who had been at the helm since 2006. Lester, who joined NAMAD in 2002 as its vice president of operations, became a dealer himself in 2021 when he bought Nissan of Bowie in Maryland.
Lester became president not long before the economy faltered and caused the number of minority-owned stores to plummet. Minorities owned 1,805 dealerships in 2005, according to NAMAD data, but the Great Recession took hold soon after and sent this tally spiraling to 875 by 2011.
After that tough stretch, the numbers have been on an upward swing. The industry saw the biggest gain last year in minority-owned dealerships since 2012, adding 109 rooftops to bring the total to 1,366.
Lester is now the organization’s vice chairman. He was selected as one of Automotive News’ Notable Champions of Diversity in October.
“I think the industry as a whole has gotten better with understanding why diversity matters,” Lester told Automotive News in September. “We’re definitely nowhere near where we should be. We’re nowhere near close to parity. We’re still about 6 percent representation within the minority dealer body, yet 30 percent of all new cars and trucks are purchased by an ethnic minority.
“So the goal of parity is still yet to be achieved. Overall, the industry is starting to put more effort and emphasis on it, particularly over the past three to five years, than it has in quite some time.”