Meet our directors: an inspired team leading Harwoods, a privately owned automotive retail group based on the south coast of England. Harwoods serve customers from across Hampshire, Surrey, Sussex, Kent and beyond.
Our established family business, with a reputation for high standards, was founded over 85 years ago – so we are true experts in our field.
Harwoods was established by Wally Harwood, father of Guy Harwood and was based at London Road Pulborough.
1965-1996, Guy began riding out for Ryan Price at Findon at the age of 18, Guy would go on to win 40 point to point winners and 14 National Hunt Races. Over the next few years he started working as a pupil assistant trainer to Bryan Marshall when he was 21 and five years later in 1965 he commenced training under permit.
Owned Petworth, Pulborough and Storrington Harwoods Garages during that time and went on to buy Coombelands Farm, where he developed Coombelands Racing Stables.
Guy joins the garage business full time during 1992. The size and profile of the Group is increased as is the investment and management structure.
"Being a family owned business for over 80 years gives us all something to be really proud to feel a part of, and makes going that extra mile simply part of our day-to-day roles. Our teams are more experienced, more talented, and they all live and breathe the Harwoods brand ethos of 'putting our customers first' on every occasion".
Golf, Bridge, Shooting. Previously Cricket & Tennis (and used to play to a good level) and rode to hounds.
Archie grew up with the business, performing a variety of roles prior to being appointed to the board in 2012 as Business Development Director. In this role, Archie was proud to lead the creation of the company’s forward vision, in collaboration with his fellow directors. The Harwoods vision statement 'Creating Memorable Experiences' reflects Archie’s personal motivation, as well as the motivations of others he observed whilst growing up in the business. He believes Harwoods does this naturally, and is keen to ensure this is a daily focus for all team members; Archie believes this is how Harwoods stands out in the market. In 2018, Archie excitedly took up the position of CEO. As someone who is inspired by human interaction, with a variety of work challenges and being able to look at the big picture, he knew the position is perfect for him. Archie is optimistic for the future of the auto retail industry, and his main goal for the future is attracting and developing the best teams of people who are passionate and innovative in driving the business forward towards its omnichannel future.
Skiing, tennis, socialising
Overseeing the Group’s Financial Services operations and FCA compliance, Martin has been part of Harwoods since 2014. Working within the automotive industry for over 25 years, with the majority of time involved with F&I, he has an avid fondness for numbers, finance figures and compliance!
With ever increasing regulations and governance by the FCA, treating customers fairly is always at the forefront of Harwoods ethos and culture. Using extensive financial and operational skills gained from over 15 years’ experience, and knowledge at group level, Martin makes strong contributions to strategy, development and compliance to this sector of the business.
Outside of work, he supports Harlequins Rugby, and over the years he has participated in numerous endurance sporting events. Martin has completed two Ironman Triathlons, multi-day cycle challenges, and is a keen open-water swimmer. Time now is spent with the family or with his two flatcoated retrievers, which he works during the winter months on shoots around West Sussex.
Having started in the Motor industry in 1992 as a valeter and then sales executive, Scott joined Harwoods following the 2004 acquisition of Testwood Motor Group Ltd, taking on the role of Group Fleet Sales Manager. Scott was promoted to the main Harwoods board in April 2009 to take the position of Audi Brand Director for the Harwoods Audi market area. He also oversees the Volkswagen Trade Parts Specialist (TPS) division, the Audi corporate sales department, and the Harwoods MAN truck centre. In April 2017 Scott took on the role of Operations Director for Harwoods, responsible for 17 franchised outlets representing Audi, Bentley, Aston Martin, Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) and McLaren. Due to the size of the JLR Division, Scott also represents Harwoods as JLR Franchise Director with a position on the JLR Retail Board.
Nick has worked in the motor trade since 1997, and joined Harwoods in 2012 as Head of Business at Five Oaks Audi, before moving to Portsmouth Audi in 2013. Outside of work Nick fills his spare time socialising with friends and family, with the occasional game of golf.
Golf and Cycling.
Dan's entrepreneurial background enabled him to found many successful start-up investments within the tech and video games sector, recently enjoying commercial success within the Cloud Infrastructure and Services sector prior to joining Harwoods Group. It is this enterprising spirit which Dan brings to his role as ICT Director at Harwoods.
Dan has a love for food and drink; he collects wine, and often travels the world on the quest for exciting cuisine. From his smallholding in Sussex, Dan farms rare breed sheep alongside maintaining his numerous beehives. Aside from beekeeping, other passions include racing cars, tennis and fly fishing. Dan is passionate about innovative and exciting new projects which deliver the memorable Harwoods customer experience.
Race cars, Food and Wine, Beekeeping.
Craig is the Harwoods Head of Business responsible for both Bentley Hampshire and Sussex, which was awarded the prestigious ‘Bentley Retailer of the year in 2015’. Craig followed this up with ‘Bentley Head of Business’ in 2016 and 2017. With a 20 year pedigree in the motor trade, Craig has a deep knowledge on all aspects of automotive retailing.
Craig was attracted to Harwoods by its reputation as a professional family run business, with its emphasis on growth, both at a business level but also at a personal level for all its employees. Craig is keen to state that Harwoods is a family business which is able to compete with the best in the industry. For those looking to work with Harwoods, Craig would advise not to hesitate, as "it’s a very professional business with plenty of opportunity for development". In his role as Head of Business, Craig leads by example, making sure the Harwoods brand values are integral to everything we do and how we behave.
Spending time with family, visiting the gym, cycling and socialising. Craig is a qualified Rugby Coach for under 13’s.
Amanda was brought up at Coombelands Racing Stables in Pulborough, where her father Guy Harwood trained over 1600 winners, 30 of which were at Group 1 Level including Champion racehorse Dancing Brave. Amanda rode successfully as an amateur jockey winning 90 races, and became the first lady to ride in the Champion Hurdle at the 1990 Cheltenham Festival. She also rode as an event rider, winning the three-day event at Punchestown in Ireland and represented England in Italy later that year. In 1996, Amanda took over the racehorse training licence at Coombelands Stables from her father Guy, and have since trained over 680 winners. Coombelands Racing Stables is a family run business, with her husband Mark and children Ryan and Emma taking an active part. Amanda takes much pride in providing a good service to our loyal owners and staff.
I enjoy taking an active part in the leadership of Harwoods with my Father, Archie and team. Outside of work my interest are my family, skiing and all sporting activities.
Richard’s interest and career in the motor trade started at the early age of just 15 under the YTS scheme; and he hasn’t looked back. As an Apprentice Technician, Richard quickly developed a thorough understanding of the motor vehicle, which saw him progress through to Master Technician status prior to moving on from the workshop environment. Keen to expand his knowledge of the wider business, Richard covered many roles within the retailer which enabled him to start his management journey in 2002. With several years’ experience as a successful head of business, Richard joined the Harwoods Group family in July 2017 with the opportunity to move the Basingstoke business into a brand new Dual Arch Jaguar Land Rover facility, whilst continuing to develop the BMW & Mini Authorised Repairer (also based in Basingstoke). Richard prides himself on being a motor retailing professional, and thrives on generating success through the performance of his teams who benefit from his experience gained from working in many areas of the business.
Richard is a season ticket holder for Portsmouth Football Club, loyally supporting the club through many highs and lows over the years. Presumably to counteract the many lows, Richard enjoys socialising, and is currently 4 years into the sympathetic renovation of his 1930’s art deco home; on the completion of which, a new project may need to be started.
Jamie’s Harwoods journey started in 2012 as General Sales Manager, prior to quickly becoming the Head of Business at the same location the following year. His active role in mentoring and driving performance generated success over three very enjoyable years. Jamie then transferred across to Harwoods Crawley JLR to oversee the New Arch Concept build as Head of Business, which delivers a memorable customer experience as a flagship facility. In January 2019, Jamie became Area Director, responsible for Harwoods Crawley, Croydon, Edenbridge and Pulborough sites. He was also awarded the prestigious Leadership Award in 2018, and sits on the JLR Sales and Marketing panel. Jamie is excited about new technologies within the brands, and passionately delivering these to Harwoods JLR customers.
Jamie loves spending time with his family. He enjoys all sports, whilst having a particular passion for F1 and football. Jamie supports Liverpool, but nobody is perfect.
Jamie is passionate about the automotive industry and technology, and has combined this for the majority of his career. Jamie’s proudest achievement has been the diverse experience his career has generated, from dealing with the smallest to the largest organisations, and meeting key players globally in the world of technology and automotive. Jamie engaged with the business in 2019 in an advisory role, and was enormously excited to have joined the Executive Team in the position of CDO at the beginning of 2020, as someone who is inspired by the big picture of digital evolution and driving change in automotive.
Travel, Skiing, Tennis and Being active Outdoors (& of course technology!).
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