Strictly speaking, Brent E. Butterfield does not meet the standard definition of an entrepreneur.
The family business he now heads, Butterfield Ford in Sandy, has been in existence since 1937, two years before Brent was even born, and it was well-established by the time he became a lot boy at the facility in the 1950s.But since it was only through his herculean efforts to save the business when it was on the verge of bankruptcy seven years ago that Butterfield Ford even exists today, the distinction seems moot. In every meaningful way, Brent "founded" Butterfield Ford and is thus an entrepreneur.
Though the remarkable story of the rise, fall and rise again of Butterfield Ford can't be done justice here, suffice to say that everyone familiar with it agrees that chief operating officer Brent Butterfield pulled off a marketing miracle in transforming the sleepy little Riverton dealership into a powerhouse that chalked up more than $100 million in sales last year, nearly triple the volume logged in 1995.
As always, success breeds success. Butterfield knew that the increase in sales was a golden opportunity to capture the parts and service business of all those new customers, and he instituted a new hiring and training program that has made that department so profitable that service income alone has increased more than enough to pay off the extra debt incurred in the massive restructuring of the company.
Employee morale has soared with the newfound success, and plans are under way for a new facility that will triple service capacity and double sales capacity.
Butterfield, says his nominator, possesses a unique ability to identify people with talent and potential and then motivate them to reach their goals. That, and his refusal to quit when all seemed lost, is a turnaround story that will be studied by business students for years to come.