McFarland Ford

Susan McFarland Moynahan, president of McFarland Ford Sales, Inc. of Exeter, will be honored on Saturday, Feb. 5 as the 2011 New Hampshire TIME Dealer of the Year.

Sue, the 2006-07 chair of the NHADA Board of Directors (having joined the board in 2003), is one of a select group of dealers from across the country honored at the 94th annual National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) Convention & Exposition in San Francisco.

The announcement of this year?s Dealer of the Year and finalists was expected to be made at a planned formal opening of the convention, which is expected to have more than 15,000 individuals involved in the automobile industry in attendance.

The TIME Dealer of the Year award is one of the automobile industry?s most prestigious and highly coveted awards for new-car dealers. Recipients are among the nation?s most successful auto dealers, who have demonstrated a long-standing
commitment to effective community service.

Sue, 54, was chosen to represent the NHADA in the national competition and is one of only 52 automobile dealers to be nominated from 17,000 nationwide for the 42nd annual award. The award is sponsored by TIME in association with Goodyear, and in cooperation with NADA.

?Working with my Dad and brother is the most rewarding part of my automotive career,? Sue said. ?We have always worked well together and complimented each other with our relative strengths, while giving each other room to grow.?

Sue graduated from Phillips Academy, in Andover, MA, in 1974, attended Middlebury (VT) College, from 1974-77, and graduated from the University of New Hampshire, in Durham, in 1978, with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration.

That same year Sue began her full-time automotive career as an office manager at McFarland Ford Sales, Inc., in Exeter. She had worked during her college summers in the accounting office. Sue became the third generation of McFarlands in the store, which was founded in 1957 by Donald J. McFarland, Henry O. McFarland, her father, and Frank O. Patterson.

?In 1984,? says Sue, ?I became partner when we began Hampton Ford Inc. in North Hampton.?

Sue was instrumental in taking manual parts and accounting into the computer age in the mid ?70s and worked at the second dealership in the mid-?80s, coming back to McFarland Ford in 1994 when Henry McFarland became semi-retired, when she took over managerial capacity. Today, she and her brother, Jay D. McFarland, an at-large member of the NHADA Board of Directors representing franchised dealers, remain partners in both family dealerships.

Sue has a long and distinguished record in community service. She dedicates her time, talents and resources to a number of highly valued civic and charitable enterprises, including: the Exeter Area Charitable Foundation, the fundraising arm of the Exeter Area Chamber of Commerce, which is primarily responsible for the Chamber Children?s Fund; the Sea Care Board of Directors, an agency that coordinates pro bono services of 400+ physicians, therapists, dentists, and agencies in the Exeter and Portsmouth areas; chair of the renovation committee of the Seacoast School of Technology, overseeing an $8 million renovation of the career and technical high school; spearheading ?Drive One 4 Ur School? test drive event, which benefited the Seacoast School of Technology and Exeter High School with over $9,000 for clubs and the computer lab; Rye Library trustee for six years in the ?90s; and EMT on the Rye Volunteer Ambulance Corps from ?82-?92. In May 2010, Sue received the SAU 16, Exeter School System, Champion of Children Award for her efforts over the last ten years on behalf of the Seacoast School of Technology.

?This award recognized the years of commitment,? says Sue, ?and the collaboration with the business community.?

Nominated for the TIME Dealer of the Year award by New Hampshire?s last three nominees, Sue and her husband, John, have three children, Kaitlin, Shannon, and Peter. Sue also represents Ford and Hyundai at the McFarland family dealership in North Hampton.

A panel of faculty members from the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan selects one finalist from each of the four NADA regions and one national Dealer of the Year.

TIME is a global multimedia brand that includes TIME Magazine, the world?s largest weekly newsmagazine, with a domestic audience of 19 million and a global audience of 24 million; four worldwide editions of TIME magazine; TIME for Kids; and TIME.com, which draws over 7 million unique visitors a month and has over 2.2 million Twitter followers.