Brandon Steven (born July 25, 1973 in Wichita, Kansas) is an entrepreneur and business owner based out of Wichita, Kansas. Brandon and his brother Rodney Steven own 9 car dealerships and 40 health clubs. While Brandon and Rodney are partners, Brandon manages the car dealerships and Rodney manages the health clubs.
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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.
Brandon was involved in several entrepreneurial adventures at an early age, from shoveling snow to selling pigeons to hunters. At the age of 17 he began working selling used cars. He went to Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Illinois with his brother Rodney. Brandon graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in Marketing in 1995. Brandon worked in many ventures during college including buying and selling used cars and mopeds, selling T-shirts and candy, vending machines, all starting a campus HBO Guide with advertisements.
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Business career
In 1995, Brandon opened an unsuccessful telephone-based auto locating service for potential car buyers in Wichita. Brandon 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.
In 1996, Brandon opened Brandon Steven Motors in Wichita. In the later years, a total of 4 used car lots were under the same flag. Brandon also partnered up with his brother Rodney to open up the second health club in Wichita, called Genesis Health Club. In 1997, they formed Steven Enterprises, LLC. 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 in the Midwest.
Brandon purchased his first new car dealership, Subaru Of Wichita, in 2004. In 2007, Brandon purchased Ford of Augusta, just east of Wichita. Two years later he partnered in a Suzuki franchise Brandon and his partners also opened Super Car Guys selling used cars.
In 2008 Brandon purchased 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 a majority share. Brandon added Chrysler Dodge Jeep and Ram to the dealership in April 2014.
In April 2015, Brandon was faced with a tough acquisition- buying out a long time Chevrolet Cadillac Dealer in Wichita. 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.
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.
In Feb. 2017, it became known that Brandon Steven was under investigation by the FBI via wiretap notifications sent to the media and others in the community who had communicated with Mr Stevens over the course of a multi-year investigation.
He started an online portal, www.eddyseverything.com, 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.
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. The brothers later purchased the Tulsa Oilers and Allen Americans, and have enjoyed great success in the ECHL. The Allen Americans just recently won the League's Championship one year after joining the ECHL.
Personal life
Brandon is married to Karen Steven and together they have six children: Lauren, Lainie, Lexi, Landry, Brandon II, and Leighton. Brandon Steven also plays poker and has played in high stakes poker games in Las Vegas and elsewhere.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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