TrueCar announced a few shifts in its C-suite leadership operations on Tuesday.
Jantoon Reigersman, who was previously both chief operating officer and chief financial officer, will now solely focus on the COO position. He joined TrueCar as CFO in 2021, then took on the COO role as well in February 2022.
Former senior vice president of finance Teresa Luong now moves into the CFO position. Luong has been with TrueCar since 2014, first serving as director of finance and moving up from there, including her most recent post as SVP of finance.
Meanwhile, chief consumer officer Beth Mach, who has held that role since October 2020, is now chief communications officer.
TrueCar has also hired Jay Ku to serve in the newly created role of chief commerce officer. His most recent position was at Nogin, where he was EVP and chief commerce officer.
“These leadership moves will assure TrueCar remains focused on introducing innovation that can be quickly scaled in the marketplace, delivering value to our dealers and consumers,” TrueCar president and CEO Mike Darrow said in a news release.
“Our priority continues to be aligning our business and financial strategies to help us achieve our growth and profitability targets as well as our business objectives of rebuilding our core business, expanding TrueCar+, engaging in the supply side of the used car market and improving traffic conversion,” Darrow said.
An executive who had successful stops with Dealer Alchemist and Elead now is the new senior vice president of sales and marketing at Quantum5, a sustainable training technology platform for automotive.
According to a news release distributed on Tuesday, taking on this role for Quantum5 is Dan Dillingham.
Prior to joining Quantum5, Dillingham served as the senior vice president of sales at Dealer Alchemist, where he grew client sales by 200%, as well as helped land the company on the Inc. 5000 fastest growing companies list.
Earlier in his career, Dillingham held the position as regional vice president position for automotive software company Elead. As a 17-year employee and VP at ELEAD, Dillingham helped take the company from 100 stores in 2004 to more than 3,800 when CDK Global acquired ELEAD in 2018 for approximately $550 million.
“My passion is helping retail automotive evolve and grow, so when I heard the work Quantum5 is doing to develop and train the next group of automotive professionals in a way no one has done before, I jumped at the chance. I am excited to be a part of bringing a better learning solution to the industry,” Dillingham said in the news release.
Quantum5 merges the power of in-person skills training with backend technology that includes artificial intelligence learning, gamification and community building to create ongoing proficiency in learners.
As sales and service teams work their way through the different levels of the app, Quantum5 said they become better at determining needs and motivations of buyers, delivering value and handling objections. These skills work together to increase both sales and retention opportunities across the dealership.
And Dillingham is tasked with keeping Quantum5 on a positive growth trajectory.
“We just got back from NADA and what I heard over and over again was, ‘Dave, how do you assemble such a remarkable team?’ I feel the addition of Dan falls in line with Quantum5 having the best people in the business to serve our clients and partners. We are honored to bring him on board,” Quantum5 CEO David O’Brien said.
For more information on Quantum5 and how it can help your sales and service teams through training, visit www.quantum5.ai.
Space Auto expanded both its physical and human resources to position the company for growth.
The integrated software and marketing solution provider for dealerships announced three new leadership hires, including two veterans of CarOffer. The company also is moving into a larger office space in Dallas to keep pace with its growing team and client base.
As Space Auto rapidly expands, the company said in a news release that expects to hire at least 15 new employees in the first half of the year.
“We are excited to take Space Auto to new heights and welcome new team members as our company grows. I am so happy to have an incredible, new marketing and sales team with on-the-street dealership experience and the perfect office to make our expansion possible,” Space Auto founder and CEO Nick Askew said in the news release.
“Our all-in-one, flexible solution to software and marketing for car dealerships is changing the experience of car buying and more dealerships are signing on to enhance their sales success,” Askew continued.
Space Auto’s new leadership hires include:
• Jason Gluskin as chief marketing officer, who brings more than 20 years of marketing leadership experience to Space Auto.
The company highlighted Gluskin has a deep passion for developing strategic marketing and communications programs that reach the “right customer” with a strong value proposition, in a cost-effective way.
Gluskin has developed and executed successful, revenue-driving digital and offline media programs for industry leaders including Blink/Amazon, SIRIUS XM, Live Nation and Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB).
Gluskin was also principal owner of MediaStar Marketing, a boutique marketing and media strategy consulting agency, for eight years.
•Matthew Lance as vice president of finance and operations, who previously was an investor in CarOffer.
Lance served as a director, managing a multi-million dollar automotive trading facility, internal financial analysis and reporting, an internal fraud prevention team, and extensive stock analysis and financial comparison models of publicly traded competitors.
Prior to being with CarOffer, Lance was a founder and executive at a successful New Zealand-based gold-mining company, where he is currently a board member. He also founded a hedge fund in the gold and silver-mining industry, which remains active today with millions in managed assets.
• Robert Mammucari as director of operations, who was the national sales manager at CarOffer.
Mammucari has more than 17 years of automotive experience, including positions as general sales manager and sales manager at multiple dealerships.
Mammucari spent 13 years in the United States Marine Corps, where he held key positions as a drill instructor and platoon sergeant and served in Operation Enduring Freedom in Iraq. He is also the recipient of the Navy Commendation Medal.
Space Auto’s new office, which is slated to open this month, will be located at The Gild, which is situated at 8350 N US 75-Central Expressway in Dallas.
To learn more about Space Auto’s software and marketing solutions, request a demo at www.space.auto.
RVI Group appointed a new chief financial officer on Tuesday, handing the position to James Bedard, who has more than 20 years of experience in finance, including business planning, financial modeling, expense management and distribution channel effectiveness.
According to a news release, Bedard replaced David Klanica, who retired as of Dec. 31.
Most recently, Bedard held several roles within UnitedHealthcare, including M&A lead and divisional chief financial officer. Prior to that point, he had financial management leadership roles at The Hartford, CIGNA and Traveler’s.
RVI Group highlighted Bedard also has a strong track record of driving profitable growth across healthcare, financial services and property casualty insurance businesses.
“We believe Jim’s reputation for execution and achieving results makes him the right choice to lead our finance department,”, RVI Group co-CEO Michael McGroarty said. “Adding Jim to the executive team will be invaluable to our continued development and success. He will play a significant role in helping us to manage, scale and evolve our business and also support our growth into specialty reinsurance.”
RVI Group co-CEO Dan Egan commented about Klanica’s time with the company.
“We are grateful to Dave for his 15 years of dedicated service to RVI. The highly knowledgeable and long-tenured team we have at RVI is a result of Dave’s leadership,” Egan said.
“We are very pleased that Jim has joined the team, as his experience with growth and diversification will help us accelerate the expansion of our business,” Egan went on to say.
Manheim announced a new general manager for its Manheim Lakeland location on Monday, as well as a new assistant vice president of reconditioning operations for the East and Southeast.
Promoted to the Lakeland GM role was Catherine Woodall, who previously held the aforementioned recon AVP role.
Chris Karwoski, who was most recently assistant GM at Manheim Statesville, has taken on the AVP of reconditioning operations for the East and Southeast.
Woodall has been with Cox Enterprises for 22 years, while Karwoski has been with Cox Automotive for nearly a decade.
“With 2023 expected to be another unpredictable year for the industry and wholesale space, clients and team members will continue to look to strong leaders like Catherine and Chris to help navigate their businesses and the opportunities that lie ahead,” said Patrick Brennan, senior vice president of the company’s marketplace unit, in a news release.
On Wednesday, Rapid Recon — which was part of an acquisition announcement made last week by Vehlo — named Bridget Townsend as senior vice president of product development.
Among Auto Remarketing’s Women in Remarketing honorees in 2014, Townsend has been in software development since 1995, focusing on automotive software solutions since 2000. She joined Rapid Recon in 2018.
Her career has included key leadership roles as vice president of vendor management for DealerSocket, vice president of market performance for inventory solutions at Dealertrack, and senior director of product development for Chrome Systems.
Rapid Recon reconditioning and communications workflow software can help auto dealers achieve and maintain long-term success.
Through dealers’ application of the Rapid Recon Key Performance Indicator time to line (T2L), Rapid Recon people, processes and software can steer continuous improvement efficiencies and performance gains throughout the dealership.
More details can be found at www.rapidrecon.com.
NCM Associates president and CEO Paul Faletti has joined the board of advisors at Privacy4Cars, the latter said Thursday.
In addition to his time with NCM, Faletti’s experience includes executive posts at BMW Group, Jaguar Cars and Maserati NA.
“Paul has visibility into a highly valued and expansive dealer network,” Privacy4Cars founder and CEO Andrea Amico said. “He sees firsthand what dealers are looking for when it comes to operations and best practices, and will be a valuable Advisor for expansion of our dealership privacy tools, education, and communication.”
Privacy4Cars’ board of advisors also includes FM Capital managing partner Chase Fraser, Automotive Ventures CEO and founder Steve Greenfield and Impel co-founder and CEO Devin Daly.
“Andrea and the Privacy4Cars team are actively addressing a critical need in the automotive industry through their proactive management of private information contained in vehicles,” Faletti said. “I am pleased to be a part of this team's passion to address the increasing challenges through their proven and patented technology.”
CarNow has hired former Meta executive Bob Lanham as senior vice president of manufacturer relations, the company announced Thursday.
Lanham was most recently head of automotive retail at Meta. His background also includes time with Microsoft, Yahoo, Hulu and Shazam.
“Throughout my career I’ve partnered with many dealer platforms, and CarNow consistently topped the list of innovators,” said Lanham.
“CarNow’s team has developed the platform with dealer experience and execution top of mind, which makes it a standout system that directly drives sales and service revenue. I’m so excited to join the team at this very promising juncture.”
CarNow CEO Andy Park added: “Bob is a truly respected and accomplished leader who has spent his career at the forefront of innovation in technology.
“I’m thrilled to welcome him to our leadership team where his experience and strategic vision will be pivotal in shaping the next chapter of growth for CarNow and our customers,” Park said.
Group 1 Automotive said Tuesday it has hired a chief legal officer as well as a chief marketing officer.
Joining the company as CLO and senior vice president is Gillian Hobson, who comes over from Vinson & Elkins in Houston. She was part of the firm’s management committee and was Group 1’s primary relationship attorney.
Hobson takes over for Darryl Burman, who is retiring as Group 1’s senior vice president and general counsel.
Meanwhile, Kimberly Barta is the first-ever chief marketing officer at Group 1. Her background includes time in marketing leadership roles at Nike’s innovation lab, SOREL and Dr. Martens.
“We are privileged to welcome these two accomplished executives to the Group 1 leadership team. Gillian and Kimberly are proven professionals who bring skill sets to Group 1 that will help drive our strategic growth and customer-centric initiatives,” Group 1 president and CEO Daryl Kenningham said in a news release.
“We’d also like to thank Darryl Burman for his 16 years of service to the company. Darryl was instrumental in supporting much of Group 1's expansion during that time and we wish him the best in his retirement,” Kenningham said.
These moves continue a transition in Group 1's leadership. Kenningham stepped in to the CEO role on Jan. 1, following the retirement of Earl Hesterberg from that position, a move first announced in August.
In addition to sharing a few milestones reached in 2022, on-demand car care, tech and services company Spiffy announced a new chief financial officer on Thursday.
Hired for the CFO role is Brad Schomber, whose background includes 16 years of financial and accounting experience and two initial public offerings.
“I am thrilled to welcome Brad as our new chief financial officer here at Spiffy," Spiffy CEO and co-founder Scot Wingo said in a news release.
“His proven track record scaling growth-stage businesses as well as his experience navigating fund-raising and taking companies public make him the perfect fit as we continue to build a world-class company,” Wingo said.
Schomber added: “I am excited to join Spiffy and become part of such a dynamic team that is rapidly scaling across multiple very large TAM opportunities. It's truly unique to find such an innovative company that offers solutions so perfectly tailored for today's environment."
The company expansion continues what was a year of milestones for Spiffy in 2022.
Early in the year, the company extended its Series B funding round to $32 million, and would go on to celebrate several expansions throughout 2022.
That included the addition of 30 new markets last year, most of which were through the company’s franchising program, and the launches of Spiffy Brakes and the Smart Tumbler odor elimination product for fleets.
Spiffy also reached its 1 millionth customer early in the year, and had delivered roughly 850,000 additional services before 2022 was through.
The company averaged between 3,000-4,000 services a day, it said.
“After a tremendous 2022, our 2023 plan is to continue to focus on going deeper across our growth drivers of geographies, services, and lines of business,” Wingo said. “It’s an exciting time to continue leading on-demand complete car care and providing a 10x better customer experience for fleets and individuals across the country.”
