Sewell Scholars Program

Sewell Scholars Program
Along with monetary award, Sewell Scholars commit to representing the sales program as host and ambassador for the duration of the award.

Application and information: Apply Here

Deadline: April 20th.

Carl Sewell joined the family automobile business in 1967, after graduating from Southern Methodist University and serving a stint in the Army.  His father began selling cars in 1911, and Mr. Sewell is a third generation automotive dealer. His daughter, Jacquelin, and son, Carl, are the beginning of a fourth generation.  In 1967, the business had one franchise with sales of $10 million. Today, sales are in excess of $1.9 billion. Sewell Automotive Companies consists of 17 dealerships representing the following franchises:  Audi (3), Buick-GMC, BMW, Cadillac (4), Infiniti (3), Lexus (2), Mercedes-Benz, MINI and Subaru.

Carl has served as chairman of Audi, Lexus and Cadillac National Dealer Councils, as well as a member of the Infiniti Marketing and Product Dealer Councils.

Mr. Sewell is a member of the Board of Trustees of SMU, having served as chairman, he is chairman of the SMU Cox School of Business Executive Board, and is on the board of Southwestern Medical Foundation.  He has previously served as chairman of Goals for Dallas and board member of the Neiman Marcus Group, Southwest Media Corporation, First City Bank, Ford Bank Group, United National Bank, American Tire Distributors, Dallas Chamber of Commerce and the State Fair of Texas.

Carl has lectured at Southern Methodist University, the University of Texas, Texas A&M University, the University of Virginia and Harvard University.  He has spoken to groups from BMW, General Motors, Hyundai, Toyota, IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Amoco and Apple Computer.

He is author of Customers for Life, named best book of 1990 by Tom Peters.  With sales over 1,000,000 copies, Customers for Life is published in 17 languages and has been re-released by Doubleday.

Carl believes that the most important things to do to be successful are:

  1. Learn from mentors.
  2. Decide how good you want to be.
  3. Have a profound knowledge of your business.
  4. Hire the best and brightest people.
  5. Never, ever be satisfied with your level of performance. There is no choice but to improve.

Requirements to receive a Sewell Scholarship:

-Sales Track Declared Marketing student

-Active in Sales Club and/or the Professional Distinction in Sales Program

-GPA of 3.0 or better