STELLA Automotive AI is seeing more demand for its high-end conversational artificial intelligence technology, so the company made corresponding personnel moves on Wednesday.
STELLA announced the expansion of its operations team with the promotion of Joshua Capps as its new director and Noah Pollack as technical support manager.
The company highlighted that Capps, originally hired as director of logistics, made an immediate impact with his project management and dealership operations skills. As the need to scale our onboarding and customer management process arose, STELLA said Capps brought ideas and execution to the forefront.
Capps came to STELLA from Cox Automotive and LivePerson where he led teams and assisted the product team in optimizing the dealer experience and customer satisfaction.
Pollack has been promoted from dealer enablement associate to technical support manager. In this role, he will develop sustainable and scalable support systems for STELLA’s dealership clients.
“Demand for STELLA AI continues to climb. As we expand, it is critical to have a capable and experienced leader like Joshua in place to scale our operations. I am delighted to see Joshua and Noah grow into these roles to assist our customers and internal teams,” said Sherri Eidenberg, who is the company’s vice president of U.S. dealer sales.
For more information about how the STELLA AI digital voice assistant can help your dealership, go to www.stellaautomotive.com/speedoflife or call (727) 955-3550.
Two of the latest moves by TrueCar have dealers at the focal point.
Along with piloting a new online credit application feature, TrueCar announced the election of a new member to board of directors who happens to be the general manager of a franchised dealership.
In board changes effective on Oct. 27, TrueCar welcomed Capistrano Valley Toyota general manager Brendan Harrington, filling the spot of Wesley Nichols, who resigned from the leadership group.
After these changes, TrueCar said its board remains comprised of eight directors, three of whom are women and seven of whom are independent.
TrueCar highlighted through a news release that Harrington has extensive experience in automotive retail. He currently serves as general manager of Capistrano Valley Toyota in San Juan Capistrano, Calif.
From 2018 through 2020, Harrington served as the chief operating officer of Penske Motor Group, which operates automobile dealerships in California and Texas. He previously held several leadership roles at Penske Motor Group beginning in 2003, including president and general manager of Longo Toyota & Scion.
Harrington also served in product-related roles for Mercedes-Benz USA and Nissan North America.
“We are excited to welcome Brendan to TrueCar’s Board of Directors. His success with leading high-performing dealerships combined with his OEM experience make him a great addition to our board,” TrueCar president and chief executive officer Mike Darrow said in the news release. “We look forward to his insights and contributions as TrueCar continues to work with our Certified dealer network and OEM partners toward delivering a modern marketplace that brings the car buying experience online.”
And in other company news mentioned in another release, TrueCar said it is piloting a new online credit application feature as part of the core product offering on truecar.com for consumers in Southern California.
TrueCar said the pilot — which is launching with nearly 200 dealers — will allow consumers who visit truecar.com to structure VIN-specific lease, finance or cash payments online and instantly request credit approval.
TrueCar’s new online credit application pilot features prominent incentives programs, as well as applicable taxes and fees, to provide full pricing transparency and tailors the implementation to each participating dealership’s preferences, such as enabling the auto finance companies chosen by the dealer.
“This online credit application is one more step toward online vehicle transactability. We know it’s important for our lender partners to have greater opportunities to offer financing up front to consumers,” Darrow said. “We’re continuing to bring new functionality to TrueCar that optimizes both the consumer and dealer experiences.”
Vroom said Friday it has added Fernwood Holdings CEO and managing director Timothy Crow to its board of directors.
In addition to his time with that venture capital investment firm, Crow has held executive roles with The Home Depot and Kmart.
“We are thrilled to announce the addition to our board of directors of Tim Crow, who brings his deep experience in human capital management at leading global retailers to Vroom. He is a highly skilled executive with notable leadership experience at large retail institutions, including The Home Depot, which is recognized as one of the best places to work in the retail industry,” said Bob Mylod, the executive chair of Vroom’s board of directors, in a news release.
“We welcome his experience and guidance as Vroom’s management team continues to execute on our long-term roadmap,” Mylod said.
The online retailer announced that Frederick Terrell has resigned from the board.
“We appreciate Fred’s valuable service on our Board and wish him well with his other commitments,” Mylod said.
While Dealers Auto Auction of Memphis announced the addition of one of the 2021 Women in Remarketing honorees, IAA finalized the facility expansion in a sixth state so far this year.
On Wednesday, IAA said through a news release that construction has been completed on a significant expansion to the IAA Phoenix branch. The company indicated this continued investment has increased IAA’s footprint in the Phoenix area by nearly 30%, helping to support growing customer demand.
“The added capacity from this expansion will significantly increase IAA’s presence in the Phoenix market and will help to support demand throughout Arizona,” said Tim O’Day, president of U.S. Operations. “We are focused on continuous investment across our operations to help support and maintain an excellent experience for our customers.”
IAA previously made expansions this year in California, New Jersey, Florida, Indiana and Hawaii.
Meanwhile, announced through another news release, DAA Memphis hired Adele LoCoco to manage its fleet lease operations.
“We feel very fortunate to have Adele join our team. Her reputation, knowledge, and experience will be a major addition to DAA’s commitment to providing top quality, reliable service to our commercial clients.” DAA Memphis general manager Dan Dietsch said. “With our steady growth over the past year and a half, offering over a thousand vehicles per weekly sale, DAA Memphis is a regional auction and adding Adele on the team, will help ensure DAA can maintain and improve the quality of service as we continue to grow.”
David Andrews, CEO of Dealers Auto Auction Group, said, “adding Adele to the team helps the Southeastern U.S. auto market, current DAA customers, and helps DAA Memphis continue to grow.”
LoCoco, who was among the 2021 Women in Remarketing honorees, has previously been with Idaho Auto Auction and America’s Auto Auction Baton Rouge.
“I am very excited to lend my skills and experience to help grow the DAA Memphis,” she said.
Indiana Auto Auction has a new general manager, ServNet announced in its latest newsletter.
Promoted to the role is Andrew Schaefer, who is the chief financial officer of the auction, which is part of the Stanley-Autenrieth Auction Group.
Schaefer has been with Indiana Auto Auction for more than 25 years.
"We are delighted to officially name Andrew as the general manager at Indiana Auto Auction," auction owner Eric Autenrieth said in a news release.
“His move to the top spot in our team's leadership has been planned for the better part of a year,” Autenrieth said. “He has the support of our employees and customers, possesses great skill and expertise in auction operations, and has a keen understanding of the remarketing industry.
“We have every confidence that he'll run the auction with a sure hand and will oversee its continued success,” he said.
Schaefer added: “It has been an exciting ride at Indiana Auto Auction over the past 25 years, and I'm honored to step into the role of general manager. The future of our auction is bright, and we are looking forward to growing as a team as we continue to serve our customers and ensure our place as a one of this country's preeminent car and truck facilities.”
Next up, STELLA Automotive AI — which provides conversational artificial intelligence technology — named a head of product.
Appointed to that position is Ben Okuka, who previously was director of digital product management at Rocket Auto and director of product management at FordDirect.
“As our business grows, we are investing in our team so that we can deliver the very best products and customer experience,” STELLA CEO and founder Josselyn Boudett said in a release. “Ben has a depth of expertise in automotive dealership technology that will help us design products for maximum dealership benefit and with minimum business interruption.”
Over at Quantum5, the training company named a new chief operating officer. Hired for the role is Joseph Kacala, who was most recently senior vice president of product development at Polly.
His background also includes time with Automotive Mastermind, Xtime and Cox Automotive.
“I’ve watched and been in admiration of Joe’s successful implementation of operations for large companies like Xtime, Automotive Masterminds, and Polly for a while now and what struck me the most was his commitment to relational excellence in each role,” Quantum5 president and CEO David O’Brien said in a news release.
“We are fortunate to be at a time in our organization where our growth is approaching fast and furious and we need a leader who can hit the ground running, but will always remember that relationships are the key to profits. We have found those qualities in Joe, and we could not be happier to welcome him to the team.”
We begin this roundup of auto executive moves on the wholesale side of the market.
Dan Heinrich is now the managing director of remarketing at Stellantis Financial Services, US, Heinrich said in a LinkedIn post Monday.
Heinrich said he will be helping to develop company’s end-of-lease and remarketing program.
He spent more than 20 years at GM Financial, including senior roles in the remarketing department.
Next up, Lithia & Driveway named a senior vice president and chief people officer. Appointed to the role was Gary Glandon, who has been with the retailer since February 2021 and will continue heading up human resources functions.
“Since Gary joined LAD in February of 2021, he has been a consistent champion for our mission, Growth Powered by People,” Lithia president and CEO Bryan DeBoer said in a news release. “As we continue to expand our people focus, human development is core to our 2025 Plan.”
Glandon’s background includes more than 20 years in the HR and environmental health and safety fields.
ADESA said Monday it has named new general managers at its Chicago, Salt Lake and Los Angeles vehicle logistics centers.
Appointed to those positions are Ted Coates (ADESA Chicago), Scott Crane (ADESA Salt Lake) and Jesse Estrada (ADESA Los Angeles).
“We’re very pleased to fill these pivotal positions with strong internal candidates who bring deep industry knowledge and connections to their new roles,” ADESA president John Hammer said in a news release.
“Having proven leaders ready to take on new challenges ensures a smooth transition for our valued customers and our hard-working employees,” Hammer said.
Coates had been GM at ADESA Los Angeles since 2018 and has been with ADESA since 2003.
Crane was GM at ADESA Reno for 12 years and has been in the auction business for 15 years, while Estrada had been assistant GM of ADESA Los Angeles since 2017 and joined ADESA in 2000.
“Ted and Scott have each thoroughly demonstrated the skill set and knowledge required to manage successful operations at our VLCs,” said Mike Caggiano, executive vice president of U.S. operations, in the release “I know they will bring energy and enthusiasm, as well as expertise, to their new locations.”
Caggiano added: “I’m excited to promote Jesse to head up our operations at ADESA Los Angeles. He knows the market, he knows the customers, and I’m confident ADESA LA will continue to thrive under his leadership.”
Alliance raises $53K for Manda Strong Foundation
Over at Alliance Auto Auctions, the company announced it raised more than $53,000 during the third quarter for the Manda Strong Foundation, which provides support to mothers who are fighting cancer and raising young children.
Tim Adams is the CEO of Alliance, which includes five auctions throughout the Abilene, Austin, Dallas, Longview and Waco markets of Texas.
“We are very excited to continue this campaign for raising money for these very worthy organizations. Each quarter, we set a very aggressive goal of $25,000 to help each charity,” Adams said in a news release.
“We really wanted the funds we raised to stay local. With the help from the staff and our local dealers, we have managed to reach and exceed our goals, particularly in the third quarter!”
For the fourth quarter, Alliance will be supporting House of Hope Foundation in Longview, Texas and has already started raising money.
Work Truck Solutions has named a new CEO: Aaron Johnson.
With this move, which is effective immediately, Kathryn Schifferle will transition from the role of CEO to that of chief vision officer.
“Just a few years ago, we were very fortunate to bring on board one of our earliest advisors, Aaron Johnson, and he met the challenge of bringing the company’s corporate systems and data platform to the highest level of operations,” Schifferle said in a news release. “My transition into the role of chief vision officer means that I can be hyper-focused on ways to supercharge the company’s role in helping all our customers through the needed evolution of the commercial vehicle industry.”
Johnson added: “I am pleased to accept the privilege of serving our customers; as always, we are grateful for their business. This transition is designed to drive our growth; it provides continuity of leadership while at the same time expanding our focus. We will more quickly deliver solutions for the significant challenges facing the industry, such as production shortages, new customer demand paths, plus the transition to EV platforms and evolving EV credit issues that dealerships face today.”
The company also created the role of chief technology officer. Filling that position is Kevin Kinell, who has led Work Truck Solutions’ product and development teams the last seven years.
DrivenIQ announced this week that Alex Lindblad has joined the company as chief technology officer and business advisor.
This moved arrived a little more than a month after DrivenIQ said it has raised $15 million in a Series A funding round backed by Capstone Technologies Group.
Now as CTO of DrivenIQ — an authority in audience data and advertising technologies — the company said Lindblad will lead the technology team to streamline its rapidly growing development operations.
In addition to overseeing the technology department, Lindblad will bring his experience and guidance in creating operational processes to support corporate alignment and goal setting to accelerate business growth.
DrivenIQ highlighted that Lindblad has a long and storied career in technology. He spent the first five years of his career developing high performance computer modeling and simulation software for Sandia National Labs, as well as founding a 3D nano fabrication company, Auma Laboratories.
At Auma Laboratories, Lindblad designed and developed microcontroller software for laser-based nano fabrication and helped co-author numerous grant applications that led to Auma being awarded a National Science Foundation SBIR grant.
After leaving Sandia, Lindblad worked with several venture capital-backed Silicon Valley startups and in 2012, along with two partners, he founded FS Studio, a software and product consultancy based in San Francisco.
During his time at FS Studio, Lindblad helped build and manage an international team of engineers working on multiple client projects ranging from computer vision aided gaming platforms to embedded micro-controller based applications.
In 2015, Lindblad joined The Appraisal Lane, a real-time used-vehicle trade network and communications platform.
As CTO of The Appraisal Lane, Lindblad helped build and scale the product and engineering organization from four to almost 50 people who designed and built multiple applications. These applications were geared around a wholesale automotive marketplace using a variety of technology stacks, including native iOS and Android applications and a cloud based backend made up of numerous micro-services.
Today, Lindblad still serves as an advisor at Trupropel, a full-service software development company specializing in both the automotive industry and large-scale data products, as well as now CTO at DrivenIQ.
“I’m extremely pleased to welcome Alex to our team and very excited about the future of DrivenIQ innovations with his leadership and guidance,” said Albert Thompson, founder and CEO of DrivenIQ. “We’re experiencing unprecedented growth as more brands and marketers turn to us to provide advanced advertising technologies and audience data and management tools to help them reach their ideal customers.
“Alex’s development acumen and leadership skills are just what we need to grow our technology stack and expand our client base,” Thompson continued in a news release.
Lindblad weighed in with thoughts about this new role at DrivenIQ.
“Technology has always been my ambition,” Lindblad said. “Even more, I have always been extremely passionate about helping brands build quality technological products and solutions that make their businesses better.
“I’m thrilled to put my skills to work for the DrivenIQ team and their clients. I’m impressed with their technology suite and appreciate how much growth they’ve experienced in a short period of time. I look forward to helping them grow even further,” he went on to say.
Sonia Jain is returning to Cars.com as chief financial officer on Oct. 17 after stepping down from that position in April to pursue another career opportunity.
Jandy Tomy has been interim CFO since April and will remain with CARS as executive vice president of finance and treasurer.
“We are thrilled to have Sonia back as we continue to invest for sustainable growth,” CARS CEO Alex Vetter said in a news release.
“I’m confident that Sonia's deep experience in retail, tech and financial management will help advance our platform strategy, driving growth and incremental shareholder value,” Vetter said.
He added: “On behalf of the executive team and the board, I want to thank Jandy for her excellent leadership as interim chief financial officer. I look forward to partnering with Jandy as she continues to play an integral role within our finance organization and at CARS.”
Jain’s background includes time as CFO with Redbox and was vice president of finance and treasurer at Outerwall, in addition to roles as an investment banker at Morgan Stanley and a consultant at McKinsey & Co.
“The strength of the CARS business and its track record for growing market leadership and leading industry innovation represents a clear and compelling opportunity,” said Jain. “The company's strong free cash flow profile, solid margins and consistent growth across revenue, traffic and customers all signal stability and continued momentum. I'm eager to rejoin the talented team at CARS.”
