Frank Carbone started out parking cars and changing oil at a Ford store in Fort Lauderdale when he was just a teenager. Today, he oversees nearly 60 dealerships representing 32 brands as President of Retail Automotive at Holman. The company has doubled in size twice in the past 10 years. It also just opened two new flagship stores, Porsche North Miami and Lexus of Vancouver, within days of each other.
On this edition of The Executive Profile, Carbone discusses his path into automotive retail, Holman’s tactical growth strategy, and how the 100-year-old, family-run company is navigating disruptors such as, affordability concerns and industry consolidation.
Falling in love with the automotive industry
Carbone grew up in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. His father was a police officer who ran a pre-employment screening business on the side. His mother worked at a local greeting card store. “We didn’t get much of what we wanted growing up, but we had everything that we needed, certainly,” he said.
"Those values that I learned early still shape who I am today."
Carbone got his first job at 13 as a fast-food cook. Once he had his driver’s license, he took a job as a lot attendant and quick lube technician at a local Ford store. That store would later become Holman Pompano Ford, though Holman didn’t own the dealership at that time. Carbone said that was when he first fell in love with the automotive industry. From there, he earned three degrees from Florida State University. After college, he went to work for CSX, a leader in the railroad industry. That’s where he was first introduced to the Holman organization. One of Holman’s divisions provided fleet management services for CSX.
From railroads to retail
Part of Carbone’s responsibility at CSX involved overseeing the company’s fleet vehicles. That put him in direct contact with Holman’s fleet management division. A few conversations over dinner later, Carbone joined Holman and relocated to New Jersey, where the company is headquartered. He is now in his 11th year with the organization. Carbone said the transition from railroads to retail automotive was less of a leap than it might appear.
“There’s actually quite a bit of similarity between the two businesses,” he said. “Teamwork is a really important one. Both industries require reliability and trust. You can’t be successful without a strong team.” He pointed to operational discipline, data-driven decision-making and community involvement as themes that carried over from CSX to Holman’s retail operations.
Expanding the Holman footprint
Holman’s automotive retail footprint has doubled twice in the past decade. The first came in 2016 with the acquisition of Kuni Automotive, a deal that combined Holman’s 19 dealerships with Kuni’s 14 to create a 33-store network. The second came in March 2024 with the acquisition of Leith Automotive, based in North Carolina. That deal nearly doubled Holman’s retail business again, to 58 dealerships and 34 brands.
The growth traces back to a 2021 strategy session, Carbone said. “We did an exercise that told us that we can add some stores to the mix and provide the same services that we provide from a central perspective, but very little incremental cost,” he said.
Holman initially set out to add three to five stores, but ended up adding 30. Holman’s strategy centers on a hub model, clustering multiple stores within a given geography rather than building outward from its headquarters in New Jersey. “There’s a lot of benefit to having stores closely located together,” he said. “There’s operational efficiencies, absolutely. But the biggest thing for us is the opportunities for our people.”
A different approach to acquisitions
Bringing new dealer groups into the fold isn’t always seamless. Many companies take an aggressive approach when they acquire a group, stripping out the existing systems and replacing management on day one. But Holman takes a different approach, he said, one built around learning.
"The best stores execute on the basics every day and have a strong focus on developing talent."
After the Leith deal closed, Carbone said Holman spent the first year observing what was working, before making changes.
“We were in there building relationships, learning their process, learning what they’re doing,” he said. “The whole concept was to observe and learn; are they doing something that is really successful that we should be doing in all the rest of the stores.”
That approach surfaced a handful of practices Holman has since rolled out company-wide, Carbone said. There are no major acquisitions on the horizon, Carbone said, though Holman continues to evaluate opportunities that fit its culture, location and brand priorities.
A hundred-year-old company looking toward the next hundred
Holman traces its roots to 1924, when it opened as a single Ford dealership in New Jersey. More than a century later, it’s still family-run. That long history shows the company’s resilience and paved the way for growth into the future.
Carbone said Holman’s scale gives it room to invest in long-term thinking on talent and technology. The company leans on its reputation and career development to compete in a tight labor market. Carbone pointed to Holman’s technician development advisor role as one example of building a career path rather than filling a seat.
"Our goal, and what we really chase on a daily basis, is to be the best in the industry in every area of the operation."
That approach extends to technology. Holman has found practical, incremental uses for AI across the business, from lead routing to parts-movement automation through a new venture called Holman Robotics, without a single layoff tied to the shift, Carbone said.
“The responsibility that I have here is to lead a hundred-plus-year-old business and make sure that we’re relevant in the next hundred years,” he said. “We’re not looking over the next five to 10 years. We’re looking over the next 20, 30, 40, 50 years.”
Carbone’s path from a lot attendant in Fort Lauderdale to the top of Holman’s retail operation mirrors the division he leads, built on hard work, patience, and a long view of what comes next. More than a decade after those first dinner conversations with the Holman family, he’s now shaping the strategy behind one of the largest privately held dealer networks in the country.
