On the May 26 edition of PlayMakers Talk Show, our guests were Ray Huffines  – Dealer Principal of Huffines Auto Dealerships and John Olajide –  President & CEO of Axxess

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Ray Huffines, Dealer Principal – Huffines Auto Dealerships

Ray Huffines is a third generation automobile dealer principal for the Huffines Auto Dealerships, with eight locations in the Dallas area.

The Huffines Motor Company began in 1924 by Ray’s grandfather J.L. Huffines, Sr. and later run by Ray’s dad J.L. Huffines, Jr.  The Huffines Motor Company started with a Willys-Overland dealership in Denton in 1924 and then added a Chevrolet franchise in 1927 in Lewisville.

Today the Huffines Auto Dealerships sell more than 13,000 new and used vehicles a year, still embracing an 89-year-old mission – to treat customers right and support the communities in which the Huffines’ dealerships operate.

Ray grew up in Commerce, Texas where his father had the Chevrolet Buick Pontiac dealership.   As soon as Ray had his drivers’ license he started working at the dealership; as a mechanic’s helper, as a parts department stocker, counterman and driver.

After college at Texas A&M, Ray sold cars and later became the sales manager at his father’s Chevrolet dealership in Lewisville.  Ray then went into politics working with Texas Governor Bill Clements as his personal assistant.  In 1983 he went back to the Chevrolet dealership in Lewisville as the Service Manager.  At the same time he was awarded the Chevrolet point in Plano opening in 1984.

He added a Chrysler dealership in Plano and a Dodge dealership in Lewisville in 1986.  Ray ran the Plano dealerships while his dad ran the Lewisville dealerships.  That was the beginning of their expansion with a total of eight dealerships in Plano, McKinney, Denton, and Lewisville.

Huffines Auto Dealerships

Huffines.net

John Olajide, President & CEO – Axxess

As founder and CEO of Axxess, John Olajide is responsible for charting the strategic vision and direction of the company.

Prior to founding Axxess in 2007, John was an independent consultant for home health agencies. He began in the home health industry as a contract IT support person for several home health agencies in the Dallas area. In doing this, he quickly identified the need for a one-stop resource to accomplish all aspects of operations.

John’s entrepreneurial nature led him to found Axxess as a consulting company to meet this need. After consulting for several home health agencies nationwide, John recognized the opportunity to create a user-friendly and web-based home health software solution to improve business management, which triggered Axxess’ entrance into the home health software business.

John is passionate about improving the quality of health care services given to patients in their homes by empowering home health agencies and professionals through the use of technology and education. He spent several years serving on the education and Medicare/Medicaid committees of the Texas Association for Home Care and Hospice.

John attended the University of Texas at Dallas where he obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Telecommunications Engineering.

Axxess

Phone: (214) 575-7711

AxxessWeb.com

John Olajide, Ray Huffines and Host Steve A Klein

On the May 19 edition of PlayMakers Talk Show, our guests were David Mahmood  – Founder and Chairman of Allegiance Capital Corporation and Tony Wright –  CEO of WrightIMC

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David Mahmood, Founder and Chairman – Allegiance Capital Corporation

At the age of 33 David Mahmood left the corporate environment and started his first company. By the time he was 50 years old, he had started seven companies from scratch and had some considerable success and a few failures along the way.

At age 60 David Mahmood started his 8^th and current company, Allegiance Capital Corporation.   David is a few months from his 75^th birthday and operates on the basis that as long as you are still having fun and still learning, you should probably continue to do what you enjoy. Allegiance Capital today has offices in the Helmsley building at 230 Park Avenue in New York, the opera house in Chicago and headquarters in Dallas.

An optimist by nature, Mahmood sees nothing but opportunities to help entrepreneurs grow their business.  And when they reach that point in life when they have had all the fun they can stand and want to cash in, his organization will sell the business.

As a young man, David Mahmood went to work in the Industrial Engineering Department of the largest employer in St. Paul, Minnesota.  At the time, that firm was the largest specialty advertising company and had 118 printing presses. In a matter of a few years, David moved up the corporate ladder quite rapidly turning around a division the company was going to close.

He helped develop the Hoyle Playing Card Company, hired Omar Sharif with the Italian Blue Team who were world bridge champions for 13 years.  He became a purveyor of cards for poker, bridge and other card games.  At the time he sold 32 of the 38 casinos in Las Vegas playing cards and went on to become the first licensee for NFL posters and AFL posters in retail. He hired Peter Max in New York to create a line of psychedelic posters in the early 1960’s and by the time he was 30 years old, was Vice President of sales for the corporation with 1,200 commissioned sales people and a couple thousand people reporting to him.

Allegiance Capital Corporation

Phone: (214) 217-7750

AllCapCorp.com

 Tony Wright –  CEO of WrightIMC

WrightIMC was founded in 2007 by Tony Wright. When asked why he chose to name his company “WrightIMC” he said, “If you look at the successful advertising agencies of the past, almost all had the principal’s name on the door. Most of the newer successful agencies use either an acronym or description as the name of their agency. By combining the acronym for Integrated Marketing Communication – what we actually do – with my name, I wanted to create a place where old school account service meets cutting edge strategy and tactics. In WrightIMC, we’ve done just that.”

With more than 15 years of hands-on and strategic experience in interactive marketing and a background in traditional and interactive public relations and journalism, Tony has spent his career helping companies of all sizes be profitable online.

Tony is a search marketing geek and also has extensive experience in online crisis communication and brand reputation strategy, including corporate blogging and corporate monitoring, most notably directing the online corporate reputation management strategy for American Airlines immediately following the events of September 11, 2001.

Wright serves as the driving force behind WrightIMC while also managing online media strategies, public relations and other interactive marketing projects for clients. He provides valuable input into creative, technical and strategic projects as well, ensuring that the strategic vision of all interactive marketing programs mesh with campaign goals.

WrightIMC

Phone: (866) 509-4717

WrightIMC.com

Tony Wright, David Mahmood and Host Steve A Klein