Brandon Steven

Brandon Steven (born July 25, 1973 in Wichita, Kansas) is an entrepreneur^[1] and business owner based out of Wichita, Kansas. Brandon is recognized for his award winning car dealerships and philanthropy.^[2] In 2007, Brandon received the prestigious National Man of the Year award from the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, an organization that he supports and regularly donates to.^[3] Brandon’s Eddy’s automotive dealerships have sold over 80,000 cars to the community and have provided employment to thousands of people.

Early Years

Brandon Steven was born on July 25, 1973 in Wichita. He is the son of Rebecca Steven, a school teacher, and business owner Rod Steven Sr. He has two brothers, Rodney Steven and Johnny Steven, and one sister, Julie Steven. His father owned 15 Little Joe’s Car Wash locations, a plumbing company, and a snow Ski Shop, all located in Wichita, Kansas.^[4]

Brandon was attracted to two things as a young child- sports and entrepreneurship. As a child, he played all traditional sports, and his competitiveness became blatantly obvious. At the age of 11, his brother Rodney and he started their first business - snow shoveling driveways. This business lead to Steven Snow Removal which is still very active with hundreds of clients throughout Kansas, and operating a dozen trucks. At the age of 13, he went to his 3rd venture- Pigeon Busters. Pigeon Busters was a business where Brandon caught pigeons from the tops of buildings and sold them to hunters for dog training. Brandon kept this business throughout high school and gave it to his younger brother when he left for college.

Brandon attended Kapaun Mt. Carmel Catholic High School, during which he began working at Gorge’s Motor Co. detailing cars. He loved the car industry so much that he worked his way up to selling used cars at age 17 after convincing the owner to permit him to sell cars while still in high school. Brandon had so much success that he didn’t consider the idea of college, though his parents didn’t give him an option. He went to Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Illinois, where his brother Rodney was already attending on a tennis scholarship. Brandon graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing in 1995. He was extremely involved on campus diversifying himself through sports, philanthropy and the Delta Chi Fraternity. Brandon went on to graduate with Honor’s and as the President of the Delta Chi Fraternity. He was also awarded a “Distinguished Seniors Award" which is only offered to 25 students.

Even though college wasn’t his preference, he found creative ways to make money through all of his college years. His ventures ranged from buying and selling used cars and mopeds, selling T-shirts and candy, vending machines, all the way to founding and running the HBO Guide, a campus directed brochure of HBO listings with advertising space. Brandon successfully ran the HBO guide until he graduated and sold it to a client.

Business career

After graduating college at Southern Illinois University in 1995, Brandon returned to Wichita and opened a telephone-based auto locating service for potential car buyers. He did this by developing a database of cars available for sale in the area. However, this business was not successful. Brandon continued to pursue his car business goals and began fixing vehicles one by one and selling them for a small profit. He did this while initiating other small startups; one being a multi-level marketing company, where he and his older brother Rodney and father climbed to the highest level possible.

Brandon Steven Plays Poker in Paradise, Nevada in the 2015 World Series of Poker at the Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino.

In 1996, Brandon purchased a building on West Street, in Wichita, that would be the original location for Brandon Steven Motors. In the later years, a total of 4 used car lots were under the same flag. While building his used car business he became engaged in a part of a joint venture between Gorges Motor Company and Thorn Americas, a former rent-to-buy home furnishings company based in Wichita, to pilot a used car concept in the Midwest. That linked him up again with his former Gorges boss, Scott Pitman. At the same time, he partnered up with his brother Rodney again to open up the second health club in Wichita, called Genesis Health Club. In 1997, they formed Steven Enterprises, LLC. This became the parent company for all of their future ventures. This also began what has become a unique business relationship between Brandon and Rodney. They decided they were more effective working parallel to each other versus in the same business. Brandon went on to expand his used car business and to develop commercial real estate, while Rodney drove forward in building Genesis Health Clubs. There are currently 41 Genesis Health Clubs (Source: http://www.kansas.com/news/business/biz-columns-blogs/carrie-rengers/article91086237.html) in the Midwest, and expanding.

Brandon purchased his first new car dealership, Subaru Of Wichita, in 2004. The new car business generated for Subaru required Brandon Steven to build a new showroom, which he did by building onto the Rock Road Car Wash he owned right next to the Brandon Steven Motors east location. This dealership needed millions of dollars worth of renovations and equipment, and that took years. In 2007, Brandon purchased Ford of Augusta, just east of Wichita. Two years later, he joined forces with Scott Pitman again and bought the Suzuki franchise. They quickly built a brand new facility, and within their second year in business, it became the number one Suzuki dealer in the United States five years in a row. The volume coming out of Wichita, Kansas drew attention from the automotive industry throughout the county. Scott and Brandon continued to grow their used car businesses in the former Brandon Steven Motors locations, with Super Car Guys. There are currently three locations in Wichita.

It was May 2009 when Brandon put it all on the line to purchase a minority share of Eddy’s Toyota. He was confident that the potential of this brand, combined with his ability, would yield huge returns. In 2011, only two years later, he bought majority share. In April of that same year, he started construction on a new state-of-the-art facility for the dealership. The new 60,000 square foot, two-story building was completed in January 2012. In 2016, he bought out the one remaining partner to own 100% of the company. Eddy’s Toyota won every manufacturer award possible in 2013 & 2014, thus becoming the number one Toyota dealer in the region. Brandon added Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram to his arsenal in April 2014. The Store instantly became the number one Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram store in the City with over 100% sales increase in the market within the first year of new ownership.

In April 2015, Brandon was faced with a tough acquisition- buying out a long time Chevrolet Cadillac Dealer in Wichita.^[5] Instantly, Brandon increased the sales volume and became the number one Chevrolet dealer in the state. On the same day, he also bought the Volvo store; this made two closings in the same day. He would name the Volvo store Eddy’s Volvo of Wichita, keeping the niche market in Wichita, for it was the Volvo store where Brandon first worked at when he was just 17 years of age.^[6]

In July 2016, Brandon Steven expanded his car dealership operations outside of Kansas with the purchase of Lee's Summit Mazda in Lee's Summit, Missouri, a suburb of Kansas City. The dealership has been renamed Eddy's Mazda of Lee's Summit. Brandon Steven has planned a $1 million renovation to the existing building and a lot expansion. The lot expansion will include the purchase of a vacant lot adjacent to the current building that will double the lot space.

The website, www.eddyseverything.com, was soon developed to be a one stop shop for customers’ car buying needs. The website has inventory from all of the Eddy’s dealerships in Wichita, KS and includes all operations from service to body repair. In 2016, Eddy's Everything did a car giveaway to help a deserving Wichita, Kansas Catholic school teacher.^[7]

The automotive dealerships have yielded off several additional business ventures. In 2005, Brandon created a finance company called Lead Financial to loan money to customers that could not attain traditional financing. In 2007, he created his own warranty company. In 2014, Brandon started his first Allstate Insurance Agency, called Eddy’s Insurance Group, which was located inside his Eddy’s Toyota location. Just a few months into this business, he partnered up with his younger brother Johnny, who took the owner-operator role and instantly excelled in the business. Eddy's Insurance Group became the largest Allstate Agency in the county in its first year. Currently, Brandon has three different Allstate Agencies.

Brandon Steven and brother, Rodney Steven, created Genesis Foundation for Fitness &Tennis (GFFT) in 2007 as a non-profit to help young people build character and self-esteem, as they discover the benefits of physical activity through local scholarships. Their goal was to instill healthy habits such as exercise and team building for the younger generation that did not have access or the means to participate.The Genesis Foundation for Fitness & Tennis (GFFT) is designed to provide critical funding for a wide array of physical endeavors for young people. Recipients may come from disadvantaged or at-risk backgrounds, or simply demonstrate a legitimate need and commitment. Scholarships may be awarded for something as simple as a new walking program for area students, or as monumental as high-level training for an Olympic hopeful.

Brandon, Rodney, and Johnny’s interest in hockey sparked in 2011 when the Wichita City Council awarded Genesis a five-year contract to operate the Wichita Ice Center. All three brothers became owners of Steven Brothers Sports Management, LLC. To fuel competitive drive, the three then purchased the Wichita Thunder, bringing Wichita professional hockey into the limelight.^[8] The brothers later purchased the Tulsa Oilers and Allen Americans, and have enjoyed great success in the ECHL.^[9] The Allen Americans just recently won the League's Championship one year after joining the ECHL.

Brandon Steven Motors is now the parent company for all of Brandon’s automotive ventures included but not limited to:

Eddy's Chevrolet Cadillac, Brandon Steven , Eddy's Everything Eddy’s Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram, Eddy’s Volvo, Eddy’s Ford, Eddy’s Toyota, Lead Financial, Subaru of Wichita, Super Car Guys, Allstate Insurance Agencies, Eddy’s Body Shop, and The Auto Boutique.

Personal life

Brandon is married to Karen Steven and together they have six children: Lauren, Lainie, Lexi, Landry, Brandon II, and Leighton. Their ages range from 2-15. Brandon Steven also enjoys playing poker and has channeled his ability to quickly read people into not only success at the poker table, but success in raising money for children in need through poker-funded charity events such as Aces For Kids, powered by GFFT.

References