Today, at the annual ATD Show, Oscar Horton from Sun State International Trucks, LLC in Tampa, Fla. was named the 2020 Truck Dealer of the Year.
“This award is a culmination of over 40 plus years of work and service which wouldn’t have happened without their support,” said Oscar Horton, president and CEO of Sun State International Trucks, LLC in Tampa, Fla., thanking those who helped him along the way.
Horton joined International Harvester (now Navistar) as a management trainee after graduating from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in 1974. Over the next few decades Horton rose through the ranks, holding positions in sales, finance, manufacturing, labor relations and finally as the vice president and general manager of International’s Foundry Business in 1995.
While Horton had reached the level of senior vice president in a Fortune 500 company with the possibility of continuing on and becoming CEO, he was not satisfied. With three decades of experience in the transportation industry and valuable industry contacts, he resigned from Navistar and began the process of purchasing the company-owned Tampa and Sarasota dealerships in late 1999.
Today, Sun State International is a full-service commercial transportation business with six locations throughout Florida offering a full line of International Trucks and representing a variety of other products from brands including IC Bus, Hyundai Translead trailers, Godwin Truck Bodies and Fontaine Trailers.
The national Truck Dealer of the Year award, sponsored by ATD, Heavy Duty Trucking magazine and Procede Software, recognizes commercial-truck dealers who demonstrate a track record of success in dealership management, service to the industry and community impact.
Jim Bland from TranSource Inc. in Greensboro, N.C. was named runner-up.
The five nominees were selected by ATD board members and dealer association executives. Professors from Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business in Bloomington, Ind., evaluated the nominees.
The other nominees are Lance Wilson from General Truck Sales & Service, Inc. in Memphis, Tenn., Tim Mitchell from Motor Truck Equipment Company/Kenworth of Pennsylvania in Carlisle, Pa., and Scott Pearson from Peterbilt of Atlanta, LLC in Jackson, Ga.
