Sea Ray recognizes dealer accomplishments at annual meeting

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Sea Ray’s dealer network has consistently been the most awarded group of marine retailers in Boating Industry’s annual Top 100 Dealer awards. So it was especially notable when Sea Ray recognized some of the top performers from within their celebrated dealer body at the company’s annual meeting, held recently in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Awards were distributed in four major categories: dealerships with 100% customer satisfaction, top retail sales for a location outside USA and Canada, top retail sales for an independent retailer in USA or Canada, and top retail sales within the MarineMax network. (Winners listed below, with #1 being the highest honor in each category.)

In addition to the four established categories, an additional award for the top first year dealership was given to American Boat Center in Knoxville, Tennessee, in recognition of exceptional performance.

“Sea Ray’s historical and present success is inextricably linked to our exceptional global network of dealers,” said Dave O’Connell, Sea Ray’s senior vice president of global sales. “Sea Ray has always strived for our dealers’ success and we’re honored by their partnership. This annual awards ceremony is a great opportunity to recognize extraordinary achievements from around the world among many of the industry’s most distinguished marine retailers.”

Finally, Sea Ray executives also presented the prestigious C.N. Ray award, previously bestowed only three times in nearly 15 years. The award is reserved for a truly exceptional marine retailer whose professional accomplishments are exemplary in nature and closely aligned with the ideals and standards of excellence established by Sea Ray founder C.N. Ray. The 2014 recipient of the C.N. Ray award was Bill McGill, principal owner and president of Gulfwind USA (marine dealership) from 1978 to 1998, at which time he became CEO of MarineMax., the position he currently holds.

“Bill’s accomplishments as a marine retailer and champion of boating are unparalleled,” said Tim Schiek, president of Sea Ray Group. “His passion for boating

and to share the benefits of boating with as many people as possible has helped propel the marine industry for more than 40 years and culminated in the most successful marine dealership in North America.”

Previous recipients of the C.N. Ray Award include Pete Beauregard, Sr. (Colony Marine Sales & Service), Rod Hall (Hall Marine Group) and Bill Trudeau, Sr. (Trudeau’s Marina).

Sea Ray’s awards gala marked the end of the 2015 model year meeting. The meeting featured Sea Ray’s ongoing Next Wave campaign, highlighting “innovative thinking and inspired execution” on a steady stream of new products. Six brand new models were on hand at the meeting, part of nine total new models that will be introduced in the fourth quarter of 2014 alone.

“This is a very exciting time, both for Sea Ray and our dealers,” said Schiek. “We’ve seen an incredible market reception for recent introductions like the 350 SLX, our flagship dayboat, and the L650 and L650 Fly, the pinnacle of the Sea Ray offering and the debut models in our new L-Class collection. The 2015 model year promises to be even more successful with the introduction of our SPX lineup of highly customizable and highly affordable dayboats, and new products and innovations across all of our product categories. We’re very proud of – and grateful for – all of our Sea Ray dealers around the globe and we jointly anticipate our mutual success in the 2015 model year.”

Click here for pictures from the event, including award recipients.