A Few Minutes With … Leslie Wise

A telling moment for Leslie Mathis Wise came 10 years ago, not long after she joined Sentry Buick Pontiac GMC.

Her boss, Harold Arnold Jr., gathered the staff together at the dealership as Hurricane Floyd’s 140-mile-an-hour winds bore down on the Southeast coast.

“Mr. Arnold came in, sat and talked.” He went over business plans for the impending storm. But that’s not what struck her most: “He was worried about the employees (and spouses and dependents).” As it turned out, the hurricane veered north and just grazed the Charleston area. But the talk made a lasting impression.

“It’s hard to say without tears,” Wise said this week from her office at the Savannah Highway dealership. Sentry, she said, “is a family.”

Wise, fixed operations manager at Sentry, started as parts manager, later adding the top spot in service. “It’s easier for me in a way (to head both departments). They are intertwined.”

Before that, she spent two decades on the retail accessories side of the auto business with a national chain.

Joining Sentry was a change. Wise hadn’t worked at a car dealership before, and she was, and still is, one of the few women service and parts chiefs in greater Charleston.

Yet she said Arnold treated her from the first interview as if gender made no difference. That attitude has paid dividends, “I have my moments, but I never have a day that I don’t enjoy coming to work. It’s exciting,” she said.

Wise has been a key part of the Sentry team that’s been awarded the General Motors Mark of Excellence the past two years.

Aside from occasionally growing teary eyed, Wise is pretty much one of the boys, although she said she does get ribbed by technicians about her obsession with keeping the service bay tidy. “I’m a neat freak,” she said. “The guys don’t like it. They say I clean up more than their wives.”

Wise believes there are so few women fixed operations managers for a reason, and it isn’t qualifications. “I don’t think they know the opportunities are out there.” She said she was fortunate having worked her way up the managerial ladder in the auto retail business, which helped when she switched jobs.

She oversees 20 employees in parts and service, which has a 21-bay shop. Sentry prides itself on no later than next day delivery for parts. Service technicians, meanwhile, are trained to work not only on Pontiac, GMC and Buick but many pre-owned cars including other brands. They fix up and tune up 1,200-1,400 vehicles a month, Wise said.

“The service department has one of the highest CSIs (Customer Service Index) in the nation,” said Harold Arnold III, vice president and son of the dealership owner.

“I think she has done a wonderful job,” he said. Wise supervises more people than any other manager at Sentry. “She has a lot of responsibility,” he said.

Wise gives broad praise to the employees, such as the shop foreman, a 40-year veteran who everybody calls “Pops.”

The parts and service departments hold meetings to build communications. “You have to love the customers, love the people you work with,” she said.

Wise said she would like to see the service department expand in the future. “The economy is really turning back around,” she said. Automotive technician is a good career, requiring computer skills along with mechanic’s know-how.

Wise and her husband Rodney Wise live in North Charleston with their son Dustin, 14. “My husband has been very supportive,” she said.

Reach Jim Parker at 937-5542 or jparker@postandcourier.com