Episode 27: Sandy Schwartz, CEO of Cox Family Office

Tune in now for Season 2, episode 7: Jason Stein interviews Sandy Schwartz, CEO, Cox Family Office, to talk about an illustrious 40-year career at Cox, as well as his view on lessons learned -- and lessons that could be applied for all entrepreneurs and innovators.

0:00 Intro
5:00 How Sandy ended up with Cox 
7:45 Sandy invented Automotive Tech 
14:35 Sandy's advice to entrepreneurs 
18:50 What Sandy learned during his career at Cox 
21:53 Challenges and opportunities for the industry

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Transcript

Welcome to the seventh episode of season two of Full Throttle, the Presidio Group's automotive industry podcast. I'm your host, Jason Stein, Director of multimedia and events at Presidio. On a regular basis Full Throttle serves as the industry's meeting point for great conversations with leaders across the automotive world.

Great ideas, and really smart people are a dime a dozen. That doesn't mean to discourage anybody. But getting the idea and getting a little bit of funding and so forth, is really not that hard if you figure out how to do it. What's really hard is building a business and then taking it to the next level. So the very first thing I tell entrepreneurs is, I know that you're really smart, and I've met with a lot of you. But you know what, sometimes you need an adult in the room. 

Is there a name anymore synonymous with technology, innovation and integration, than Sandy Schwartz, CEO of the Cox family office. If anything, Schwartz has been the one applying the innovation to his own career. Through his nearly 40 years, he has maneuvered his way from journalist to publishing leader to a distinguished run as the leader of Cox automotive, and it was in that role where Sandy left perhaps his largest mark. Under his leadership, Sandy brought the company's auto brands under one umbrella, accelerated digitization and innovation, and led the acquisition of dealer tracking dealer.com, the largest in Cox's history. Along the way, he was Manheim's President, nurtured growth at autotrader, and integrated software startups such as V auto and X time. As the head of the Cox family office he helped guide family investments for the company's shareholders, and oversaw governance, estate planning and Family Services. He still overseas Cox newspapers in Atlanta and Dayton, Ohio. As a board member of Rivian and Axios, Sandy is very active in what's next. Today in one of the final interviews before his retirement at year end, we spend some time talking about his career, lessons learned, and even what's next. Honored to have Sandy Schwartz today on Full throttle. 

Hello, I'm Sandy Schwartz and this Presidio's podcast, Full Throttle, and I'm ready to go full throttle, Jason, let's go.

Sandy, welcome to the program. What a pleasure to have you on the show.

Thank you, Jason, we've, you and I have been through a lot during our careers, journalistic careers, and also automotive sharing things together. And whenever I spend time with you, it's not only enjoyable, but I learn something and and I'm really looking forward to this. 

Well, same here. And you said the magic word, you said journalist. And I think that, you know, it was the let's see, it was the fifth word In the release that went out recently about you. And it started off Sandy Schwartz, a former journalist, I can't tell you how much that warms my heart to see you reference that way. And congratulations on taking the next step in your life journey Sandy, tell me about that. 

Thanks, Jason. Well, you know, I've worked for Cox Enterprises for almost 40 years, been so fortunate to work with the Cox family, they've been great to me. But really what they've allowed me to do is spread my wings and do a lot of different things. So I started at a newspaper in Arizona worked my way up from, believe it or not being, you know, I'm an old sports editor like you are, a lot of people may not know that about you. But I started there as a features editor, became managing editor, editor publisher went through, and I think that, you know, I'm gonna retire at the end of the year from Cox. I'm still gonna do a few things for them because I'm indebted to the family. But what I've really learned a lot about working for a company like that. But more importantly, the career is that, you know, journalism gave me this background to be curious. I think I grew up as a very curious kid. But I just believe that journalists, you know, if you're good at it, and you care about it, you're curious. And I have just been able to carry that over, through my career, whether it was on the journalism side, the business side, I don't see a huge difference. I still oversee a couple of newspapers at Cox, but we're really, yeah, what it really did for me, Jason was, it allowed me to, first of all, always be curious, always ask questions and kind of, I've always figured, take that next step. So real quickly, I have to tell you a story. Years ago, I was on the city desk, and someone came with a story. And I asked a question about the story. And they said, Well, you know, you ask a lot of questions and I said, I think we can make this one question better. And I've looked at that through journalism. I've looked at that through business and you know, I don't like to be a nag and I don't like to, you know, push people and and be a pain. But I have to tell you that if we can make ourselves better by being more curious, by asking that next question, I think it just makes all of us better. And that's kind of what why at the core, I believe on journalist.

Just one more question. I love that. What a great motto. How did the sports editor have a curiosity to end up working, since 1985, with Cox in a very, very different role than a sports editor? 

Yeah, well, you know, my mom and dad were immigrants to this country. And they were the greatest role models a person could have. And my dad was a entrepreneur, came here with $500, build a business late in life did really, really well. And I think that deep down, you know, growing up with a dad, who was an entrepreneur and thought a lot, just always made me think it doesn't matter what profession you're in, what really matters is are you working at the highest level? And I know that sounds really trite, Jason, but my dad used to say, you know, are you working hard? Are you, you know, are you doing everything you need to do? What are you doing one step more than that? And so I again, this is an advertisement for Cox, but one of the things I learned early on with the company was, if you want to do more things in different disciplines, they will give you the opportunity to do that. And so I've just been lucky to be able to take on new challenges. I did that on the journalism side, but probably more importantly, on the business side. And I think that, you know, while I did a lot of things during my career, really, for me, the big one was running the automotive assets of Cox because, you know, automotive dealers, I don't care if you're a dealer, if you're a consigner. If you're a lender, auto is a competitive business, it's a small fraternity, who, you know, we all know, a lot of the same people. But most importantly, it's a business that you're only going to do as well as you do, you know, being being a leader, taking care of your customers, making sure that you're building the best businesses anywhere. And you know, is there any business you can think of that has more fabric of what America is about? I know, we can say the world, but really in America, and, and so for me, I did a lot of different things there, I ran the media division, you know, that I'm ending my career running the Cox family office and helping the family with their investments and so forth. But where I really felt like I spread my wings was in automotive. And I feel like no matter what part of the business, you're in, Jason, you can spread your wings and do more. And I think, you know, I know I'm not supposed to turn the tables on you. But I think that you're a great example of that, you know, you were journalist, and you know, you do a lot of great things in automotive news. But I think that, quite frankly, I know, you had a great, great career there. But afterwards, I think you found out, wow, I can do all these things and I can derive this enjoyment but I also, more importantly, can help other people, whether it's shining a spotlight on them, whether it's helping them be a better business person, whether it's asking that question, and so it's just a great field that I think you know, you and I both have gotten great enjoyment out of. 

That's so true. That's so true. Yeah, just a couple of newspaper boys. I want to say that you did this, but Brody Cobb actually said it even better. You invented automotive tech, you saw a vision of how to bring all of this technology together and you sewed, you were able to sew a team together to improve the dealer and the customer experience and set a path to change Cox in ways that could never have imagined on the automotive side. 

Well, I think that's way too kind for you and Brody. I think it's way way more than I ever did. But if it's okay, I'd like to tell you a little story about where that started. I was running Cox Media Group, and I was really happy, television stations, radio stations, newspapers, you know, my love. We have ValPack. We started our internet operations. And Jim Kennedy, who was our chairman for a couple years came to me and he said, actually, he and a guy named Jimmy Hayes, who was president of our company said, you know, we own this little auction company called Manheim Auto Auctions, largest auto auction company in the world. And a lot of people you know, people in automotive know it. But a lot of people don't know exactly what, what Manheim does. And they said, we need to we need to change leadership. And we'd like you to go run it. And I said, No, I'm good. I love what I'm doing. They said well I don't think you understand we're asking you to go run it. So Jim Kennedy sat me down my first day at Mannheim. And he said to me, you know, I was at the helm when newspapers started taking their tumble, I'm never gonna let that happen to another business I own. So what I'm gonna tell you is I need you to go into Mannheim and I need you to tell me, is this a business that we need to keep? Or is it one we should sell? And I thought, wow, okay, how long do I have? And he says, well, you know, takes as long as you need. So I went in, I came back to him two months later, and I said, Jim, this was a business we not only should keep this was a business, we should grow dynamically. And it's a great business with great people. And we serve the auto industry, and I don't think we're doing as well as we can. He said, Okay, is there a but? I said, yeah, there is a but. He said, What's that? I said, I've been out talking to every general manager. I've been, you know, many of our 75 at the time auction sites in person. And I said, we just are so behind the eight ball and technology. Everything we're doing is number two pencil. I mean, we're not not even, you know, on a business side, we're not even drafting money out of people's accounts, we're sending them bills. And I said, at the end of an auction, we've had this unbelievable auction, and I have 100 auto dealers lined up waiting to get titles done. And you know, this was all new to me, I didn't grow up in this business. So he said well what are we going to do about it. I said, we need to build a technologic we need technology to build this. He said, Okay, what's that gonna cost me? And I said, Okay, you're not gonna like my answer. And he said, No, what's it gonna cost? And I said, this is a terrible answer. But somewhere between $200 million and $400 million, because I don't know, I don't know what it takes, you know, to do that. And he said, Well, you know, you've been here a long time I trust you, if that's what you do, go do it. So I just started with a group of people way smarter than me and way more talent than me. And I said, I want all of this to be technologically sound, I want people to be able to do their business off their phone, I mean, dealers should be able to buy cars, by the minute. Think about this Jason, we had every bit of information about what cars were selling for, but none of it really, you know, in any type of technological fashion. So it dawned on me that, you know, if there's a way we can make this real time and people can bid on their phones, they could buy cars, and then they could transact, and then they get titles. And I'll never forget, the day that I knew that we were on the right track was I was at an auction and there was this big line of people, you know, and I walked up to this counter, and I'm not being this is not being derogatory, but there was a little old lady who had worked there for like, 50 years, we loved her to death, she was wonderful. And I went up to introduce myself, and she'd just gone through an exhausting nine hour day after the sale of transacting titles. I said, I've got great news for you and she said, What's that? I said, we're really building a system where these titles are just going to happen, you aren't going to have to hand write every single one of these. And she looked at me, and she said, but I love doing that. And right then I knew that we would take care of her but I knew that we were going to build a business that was gonna be able to do that. Well take the next step, which was, you know, we had autotrader.com and even the Auto Trader magazines, you remember those, but we had autotrader.com. And I said, he the dealers that advertise autotrader.com are buying cars at our auction. How do we figure out how to put technology together, so they can bid on that card, they can buy it, and while it's being transported on on the truck to their dealership, we can start advertising it? We took pictures of Mannheim let's take better pictures of Mannheim. Let's invest in technology that gives us you know, today, Steve Rowley and the team. I mean, they're taking pictures with some of the new technology that can detect a little dent. And you can zoom in on it and find out. So to me, it was really how does this ecosystem work better for dealers faster. And then of course, for consumers on the other side, if we can get all that information that dealers have, and then deliver it to a consumer, I just kind of saw this ecosystem. And again, I really mean this sincerely. It was it was people much smarter than me, I might have had some of the ideas, but we were able to put people together. And you know, you have visited me at Cox many times while I was running Cox Automotive and, you know, we had really good smart people who thought a lot about this. So to me, that's a short story. I know, it sounds long, but how we took technology, and have really turned it, you know, to be a complete turnkey, we still have a long way to go but I believe we have improved our processes. I'm not going to talk about the industry, because I don't take credit for that. But I feel we have really turned up our processes to help both dealers, consigners, and everyone. And then most importantly, the consumer have the best information at the moment. Last thing I just want to tell you is today, you know, I can get on my app at Mannheim and I can tell you, what a you know what a 2019 Camaro is selling for this minute, and the most recent sale. And that's the type of knowledge I believe the industry needed. Because we were just way behind the eight ball. Sorry for rambling but...

What did it mean? What did it mean to the industry to be able to knit all these things together?

Well, you know, as well as I do, the industry is a very competitive place. And everyone thinks that they can do it better than you can. But at the end, I think that, you know, we've done really well at Cox with market share with dealers and with others. And so I hope that we've really improved the industry. And most importantly, I hope we've pushed our competitors just like the times they pushed us to be better. And again, to make this simple. We just make some things too hard. Look, I hate to bring this up. But you know, we see what's going on with the cyber threat right now. And people are back. You know, writing deals with number two pencils again, I mean, think about that. We it's not that many years ago that we were doing that. And I'm just you know, appalled when I think about that. So I think it's made the whole industry better. It's not just us. It's everybody. But I feel like we had a little bit of a hand in that. 

You're gonna speak at the Presidio Tech Summit, the second annual Tech Summit October 23, in Denver, and we're gonna have you lay out for the entrepreneurs in the room, an entrepreneur 101. What is your advice to entrepreneurs maybe who have a great technology and might have a lot of capital in front of them or an aggregator in front of them, or they're trying to attract attention. What do you say to those entrepreneurs who think, Gosh, I mean, am I going to make it in this deal? 

Well Jason, your question hits home in so many ways. And it's so important. So a couple things. First of all, you know I've been around a long time, I've personally invested a bunch of companies, I work with entrepreneurs, when I retired the year from Cox, while I'm still going to help Cox with some things, I'm going to go spend more time with some of these entrepreneurs, because I love them. Um, here's the first thing I would tell you, great ideas and really smart people are a dime a dozen. That doesn't mean to discourage anybody. But getting the idea and getting a little bit of funding and so forth, is really not that hard. If you if you figure out how to do it. What's really hard is building a business, and then taking it to the next level. So the very first thing I tell entrepreneurs is, I know that you're really smart. And I've met with a lot of you. But you know what, sometimes you need to an adult in the room. And I know that sounds like I'm preaching, but one of the things I'm going to do in my next career is I'm going to try to be that adult in the room for a few of these guys who I really think few of these people, not just guys, who I think have got great ideas, but need help. Secondly, you know, Jason, I have to tell you something, the best technology in the world. And I've seen a lot of it is amazing. But I don't care what anyone says, I know all about AI, I know all about the things we're building, it still takes an individual to have a magic touch. And when I used to go and give my speeches to dealers, I used to say to them, we have great technology, we have great people, we have smart stuff, but you know that $500 sign that you buy at the Little League Park, that's just as important as anything else you do. And so my advice is you have to have a human touch. Even as we move into this AI world, which I'm very, very big on. It's still the human brain and the human touch that will set you apart from other people. I also will tell you that I'm not going to tell you who it was, but someone said hey I've got an entrepreneur who's really smart really got a great business and would you help him? And I said, Sure. So I went and had breakfast with this guy. And he said, hey, before we get started, tell me what you want. And I'm like, I don't want anything. And he said no, I mean, do you want advisory shares? Do you want me to pay as a board member? I said, no, I want you to succeed. And he was like, oh, so we started talking. And every time he asked a question, I gave him an answer. He gave me a reason of why not. And he talked over me. You know, the best thing these entrepreneurs can do is use their brains use their technology, but listen. Listen to what the market is saying, listen to empirical data. That will take you to the next level. And then you know, a lot of the entrepreneurs look, nothing beats a bright idea, a smart person, a go getter, someone who can do this stuff. But again, at the end of the day, I just have to tell you, I sound like an old guy but there's an element of human touch that you have to have, and human thinking, if you want to make it as an entrepreneur. It's not just the best idea, or the best technology. 

And recognizing success is also I mean, you have to set limitations and goals to understand what success is right? Because success is a moving target.

And I would turn that back to you. You're 100% right. But I mean, just, you know, think about your latest business ventures. What is realistic? I mean, you know, you could go out and you can people love you, you can go out and get 50 jobs. But what is success? And how much can you do? And how well are you going to do it. And so I think you're right on target, you know, mapping out what success looks like, and also what it looks like at different stages, I think is extremely important. And again, I have to tell you, I am so impressed with some of the people I meet who have great ideas and are great entrepreneurs, and I'm so disappointed in some of them on how bad of business people they are. But more importantly, that they don't recognize it and get help.

When you think back to your Cox, when you think back on your Cox career, and all the manifestations and different twists and turns. What do you think you learned the most? What was the best coming out of it?

So you'll probably laugh at this one. But I know again, you know, when you work somewhere almost 40 years, you obviously you're going to be jaded, you know, I've got Cox, blue blood and blue ink in my blood. The first one was this company allowed me the two things. One, this company allowed me to come to work every day and be my authentic self. And I know that you and I are good friends I know that I do know you like me and I like you. But you know, I'm not an easy guy always to be with. I talk a lot and I have a lot of opinions and and I push, but kind of like our relationship you know, you and I never stopped pushing each other and never stopped. You know, it didn't matter whether you were publisher, whether I was this, we just pushed each other all the time. So they let me be my authentic self and let me do that. Here's the second thing that I just I'm so thankful and you mentioned it you know at the beginning, they never put parameters on me and said he's a news guy so they'll never do anything else. I actually had someone walk into me one day, early in my career with Cox and said, hey, we'd like you to move over to the circulation department. And I'm like, why would I want to do that? I'm the managing editor of five newspapers. I mean, you know, I'll tell you, Jason, that's a big deal. You get to pick what  pictures on the front page, you get to pick the headline, and you know. And he said, well, if you're ever gonna go anywhere inside of our company, you're gonna need business experience. And you've impressed us with some business experience. So I went home to my wife, who is very empathetic, who you know, and she's the greatest person around, told her they had made me this offer, and she's like, are you nuts? Are you gonna go do that? That's crazy. Why would you leave? So I went back the next day, and I said, hey, I thought about it. It's really not my cup of tea. I don't think so, and some time from corporate was our building. And he came in and he said to me, hey, I understand they offered me a job outside of the newsroom I said yeah. And they told me you're not going to take it. And I said, No. And he said, well, you know, you don't need to, but can I just give you one bit of advice? And I said, Yeah, he said I've been with a company, I don't remember, like, 30 years and every time they asked me to do something, I did it. And every time it worked out really well. So this company in the people who ran it, starting with Jim Kennedy, our Chairman Emeritus, they never put limits on me, they never said, he can only do this, he can only do that. And wow, what a great thing in life. And you know, for those of us like you, who are parents, think about that, if you don't put limitations on your children, of course, you have to parent them and so forth. But if you make them believe, and they made me believe I could succeed at anything. Who ever thought a sports editor would run $7 billion automotive company, you know? So I think it's a lesson that I learned that, yeah, you have to have expectations. And as you just said, you have to understand what success is, but at the same time, don't squash people's dreams, and allow them to do stuff. Now, I you know, it's not always success or failure too, but I just not being limited in my thinking. And my desires was something that gave me that I think, if I had a great career, it was because of that.

Final thing, when you think about the industry and the challenges that the industry has, or the opportunities that the industry has, what would be a few things that you would say to our audience, listening about where the industry is going? 

Well, I personally believe that this is a great industry, and will be a phenomenal industry for years to come. But it's something I've been saying forever, and it hasn't always been popular, but quit quit playing defense. You know, I mean, the EVs are a perfect, perfect example. And you know, I've been involved with Rivian and that rubs some dealers the wrong way. But I looked them in the eye and I said, I went to these Dealers Association meetings, I said, Hey, Cox is getting into this, because we want to learn how to help you because this is going to be part of your business someday. And you need to learn how to service EVs and how to charge them. And my favorite story in this was, Tesla was a customer of Mannheim, in the early stages. And one day, Jason did our San Francisco Golden Gate auction at our San Francisco auction, out in front of the auction, one day, Tesla dropped off, I think was like 150 Tesla's that they wanted us to remarket, and none of them had any batteries for battery life in them. They just dumped them off of a truck. And I said, how do we teach our people that they're going to have to charge these things or have to know the battery strength, they're gonna have to know all these and the, you know, if I own a car, whether it's an EV or not, if I bought it at the Ford dealer, I'm counting the Ford dealer take care of me. And so we gotta quit playing defense, we kind of think, how do we play offense? And I think that is in a lot of different views. It's certainly how do we service the car, there's an opportunity there, I believe auto dealers ought to be charging the cars. Can you imagine if I, if I knew that, anytime I need my car charged, I could drive up to the Chevy dealer or a Ford dealer and while I'm there the opportunity to talk to someone who says, Hey, what'd you think about this car? Or do you need this done? So we've just got to keep playing offense. I also believe that there's been a great change, Jason, from the family dealerships who have handed them down to some of the kids and said, I don't want to do this to more business people that you know, you and I were talking privately before this, and you'd mentioned Mark, Mark Wahlberg. I mean, he didn't get in this business because he wanted some old auto dealership, he wanted to take it to the next level. We've got so many great people who've come into auto, we've got to push the brain, push the limits and get better at what we do, and not be afraid we're going to get run out of business.

Alex Taylor, the CEO of Cox Enterprises, Chairman as well said it best. Sandy Schwartz helped lead our company through some of our biggest moments. And he said also, he's been a mentor to so many people and represents the very best of our people-first culture. Couldn't have said it better. Sandy, you know, I did the last interview that you did, when you were leaving your former position. And I think I'm doing the last interview that you're with you leaving this position. There's a trend here but the other trend is that you and I are friends and thank you so much for agreeing to come on and for and for sharing your your wisdom and your years and congratulations on a wonderful sports editor career. Everything that followed.

Yeah, well, you know, the reason you had the first and the last because you're the best and I always loved spending time with you, I learn something every time I do and, and I think that's just a lesson in life. You know, if you're sitting there and you're not learning, something's wrong. And so I'm so excited about my next phase and a lot of things I think I'm hoping I'm gonna be able to do. 

We will watch with great interest in probably talk to you again.

Certainly we will, on October 23. 

I will be there and I'm proud to and I, I really appreciate the opportunity. I'll see you soon, my friend. 

Thank you so much. 

Thank you.

Thanks again to my guest, Sandy Schwartz, CEO of the Cox family office, and thanks for listening to Full Throttle, come back to us later in the month for our next interview on this platform. Email me with suggestions JStein@thePresidiogroup.com or go to the website, thePresidiogroup.com. Follow us as well on LinkedIn. And thanks for listening to the program. We'll see you next time.