Whann Technology Group announced Tuesday that founder Keith Whann will now head up day-to-day operations of the company, having stepped down from his post as chief executive officer of Columbus Fair Auto Auction.
Whann joined CFAA in 1987 and had been CEO and an owner for the last 10 years. He will be an owner for the short term, but won’t be involved in the business operations.
“Relinquishing the reins is always difficult, especially when you care so deeply about your employees and your customers. I will remember my time at CFAA fondly and miss the relationships that have developed over the years,” Whann said.
He added: “As much as I enjoy the auction lanes (we all know there is nothing else on earth like an auction on sale day), I really love the technology side of our industry.
“We are very fortunate for the unique opportunities that currently exist for WTG. I see technology continuing to be at the forefront of our industry and being a disruptive force in both the wholesale and retail automotive sectors and being able to devote full time to WTG will allow us to play a part in all of this.”
As the month kicked off, FCA U.S. named a head of product planning, and Mazda North American Operations (MNAO) has chosen a director of design.
Announced Tuesday, MNAO has picked Julien Montousse as director of design at its Irvine, Calif.-based design studio.
In this new position, Montousse will oversee all of Mazda's North American design operations, including next-generation vehicle design, exterior, interior and brand strategy development.
"Julien has been instrumental in strengthening Mazda's overall direction through his keen focus on creating driving atmospheres focused on the experience of driving," said Masamitsu Koike, vice president of research and development at MNAO. "He is an invaluable asset to have on our team and an excellent ambassador of the Mazda brand."
In his new position, Montousse will report directly to Koike.
He joined Mazda back in 2009, heading up interior design at Mazda's North American studio with long-term assignments at Mazda's headquarters in Hiroshima, Japan, the company said.
In this prior role, the new director of design helped push forward the production design process for Mazda’s sixth-generation lineup, which included the 2016 Mazda MX-5 Miata and current-generation Mazda6.
"Through our KODO — Soul of Motion design ethos, we've come so far to instill a premium aura throughout our sixth-generation lineup," said Montousse. "I am honored to have been chosen to lead our efforts at MNAO, and I look forward to continuing to elevate the Mazda brand with advanced vehicle architectures, purposeful aesthetics and unique consumer experiences."
Ikuo Maeda, Mazda global chief of design, said, "Julien brings to Mazda a deep understanding of form language that complements our worldwide design efforts and adds a layer of depth to KODO design that keeps pushing the boundaries in terms of sophistication and style. I congratulate him on his appointment and welcome him to the next chapter of his career as MNAO's director of design."
FCA US names head of product planning
Earlier this month, FCA US. LLC announced Todd Breneiser was chosen as the NAFTA head of product planning, a move which was effective immediately.
Breneiser is now responsible for research and planning of all future vehicles in the North American market.
With this appointment, he has also been named to the FCA US Leadership Team. Breneiser takes the place of Benjamin Winter, who has been assigned the role of vehicle line executive for the C/D segment.
Previously, Breneiser held the role of director of portfolio planning and product planning.
Prior to that, he held various roles in the product planning department, the company said.
Breneiser joined Chrysler in 1992 as part of the Chrysler Institute of Engineering, the company's rotational program for incoming engineers.
KAR Auction Services has appointed a new vice president and associate general counsel.
Formerly a partner and chair of the business practice group at Indianapolis’ Krieg DeVault, Chuck Coleman takes the reigns for KAR as its newest vice president, associate general counsel and assistant secretary to its legal team.
Coleman will be responsible for organizing and managing the KAR legal team’s efforts in regards with its expanding merger and acquisition actions. He will also work to support the company’s general counsel in many areas, including corporate governance and securities compliance.
“We are pleased to welcome Chuck to the KAR legal team during this time of growth for our department,” said Becca Polak, KAR’s executive vice president, general counsel and secretary, and one of Auto Remarketing's 2015 Women in Remarketing honoree. “Chuck has served as outside counsel on a number of our acquisitions during the last several years. Chuck’s familiarity with our business and extensive corporate and merger and acquisition experience will make him a great asset.”
Insurance Auto Auctions announced on Monday that Tim O’Day will join the KAR Auction Services business unit as senior vice president of finance reporting to John Kett, chief executive officer and president.
With almost 30 years of experience in finance, operations and general management, IAA highlighted O’Day has a combination of big-company, start-up and high-growth business experience.
Most recently O’Day worked for nine years as chief operating officer and then chief financial officer for MedSpeed, a national healthcare transportation and logistics provider.
Prior to MedSpeed, O’Day founded and ran a business-to-business Internet technology company, was president of a regional special event company, CFO of an equipment rental chain and director of finance for a national auto glass company.
O’Day started his career at Abbott Laboratories, first in a management training program followed by various financial management positions in corporate and in the field.
“I am excited to work with Tim and further accelerate IAA's strong momentum,” Kett said.
“Tim’s broad background of financial success combined with his operational and logistics experience will be significant assets to the IAA organization as well as KAR Auction Services,” Kett continued. “I look forward to him joining the executive team as we continue to grow and expand the IAA organization.”
O’Day will be based at the company's headquarters in Westchester, Ill.
Digital Air Strike announced Thursday that it’s welcoming two new executives to its management team.
Joining the team are Susan Burke and Beth Kelly, taking on the positions of vice president of OEM partnerships and vice president of client results, respectively.
Combined, the pair brings over 50 years of experience in the industry.
Both will report to Thom Brodeur, the company’s chief operations officer.
“We are excited that Susan and Beth have joined the Digital Air Strike team,” Brodeur said. “Their extensive experience and track records of innovation and service excellence will help us continue to deliver exceptional ROI to our clients and partners.”
Burke joins DAS as an entrepreneur with over 30 years of experience in product marketing, product inception and strategy, software development, and strategic account development. According to the company, her areas of expertise include digital, social and mobile platforms. She has held past positions with ADP / CDK Global, Equifax’s automotive division and HomeNet Automotive.
Kelly’s 20 years of experience is filled with managing and creating industry leading teams focused on customer satisfaction. With 15 of those years in the automotive industry, Kelly has worked for Autobase and Dominion, where she held various roles including training manager, BMW national accounts manager, regional sales representative and director of marketing services.
For more information about Digital Air Strike, visit its site here.
FLD Inc. announced that it has named a new sales director.
The company has appointed Mike Agnew as its national heavy-duty sales director.
Bringing over two decades of experience to the position, Agnew will work as a wholesale heavy duty truck buyer, leveraging his experience from past experience working with OEMs, Kenworth, Peterbilt, Freightliner and Heavy Duty Truck Auctions.
“We are confident that Mike’s extensive background in the automobile remarketing industry will prove to be a great asset to FLD,” said Gary Mott, the company’s vice president.
“His experience with heavy duty vehicles will provide FLD with a seasoned buyer who can contribute to the success of our company,” Mott added.
For more information on FLD, visit its site here.
Metro Auto Auctions has announced that is has named Bill Westlake its director of national commercial sales.
Joining the company from the Cox Automotive family, Westlake began his career with Manheim as a senior staff accountant and corporate financial manager. He served as the director of national commercial accounts for the company from 2005 to 2015.
“Bill is a seasoned professional with many years of experience in national client sales and relationship management in the remarketing industry," said Tom McDermott, general manager and partner of Metro Auto Auctions, Phoenix.
“Bill’s expertise and skill will make him an invaluable member of our auction team as we continue to expand our business in the area of commercial accounts, which we have targeted as the next major development area for both Metro Auction locations," McDermott continued.
Westlake will work with both of Metro Auto Auctions’ locations in Phoenix and Dallas.
“Joining the Metro Auction team is a unique opportunity for me to help develop commercial business for a company that is dedicated to serving the marketplace and ensuring growth,” Westlake said.
“The emphasis that Metro Auctions has placed on meticulous service, accountability and detail from gate to gavel makes both its auctions prime locations to service additional commercial sellers at every level," he went on to say.
The Metro Auto Auctions locations in Phoenix and Dallas offer services ranging from transportation, reconditioning, post-sale inspections and financing to salvage and specialty sales. Founded in 2005, Metro Auto Auctions are now a part of Berkshire Hathaway Automotive.
Take a quick drive through most communities with more than a few traffic lights and you’ll likely find what dealers might describe as “car row.” You know; it’s that stretch of retail-filled highway where franchised stores especially are clustered together.
Well, a wide array of companies are bolstering their resources to take on “this new challenge of disrupting the automotive industry with technology,” in an attempt to eliminate the need for thousands of square feet of brick-and-mortar retail space that often highlight a city’s commerce center.
The latest development arrived on Monday when Vroom — an online used vehicle retailer that has raised $73 million equity funding — added a trio of executives from well-known websites.
Michael Akrop, who previously led the finance team at Zappos, will be aboard as Vroom’s first chief financial officer.
In addition, Paula Buzzard, who worked in product development at Google, will serve as the company’s first chief product officer.
Furthermore, Emily Scott Frankel, formerly vice president of digital marketing and innovation at KAYAK, will serve the company as vice president of marketing.
“We’re thrilled to be expanding our leadership team with three hires who have deep experience at some of the most successful consumer web properties in the world,” said Elie Wurtman, executive chairman of Vroom. “We look forward to welcoming Michael, Paula, and Emily to the Vroom team and learning from their vast expertise.”
Each of the new executives described their enthusiasm about joining Vroom, which reported that sales for the month of May came in at $20 million, propelling it toward what it expects to be a $300 million sales year for 2015. But perhaps Frankel’s comment might be the gauntlet thrown directly at dealers.
“I’m excited to help Vroom ramp up its marketing efforts and use data to improve the customer experience and help spread the word about the company’s unprecedented innovation,” Frankel said. “I’m eager to apply my experience with bringing the travel industry online to this new challenge of disrupting the automotive industry with technology.”
Meanwhile, Akrop was previously VP of finance at Zappos where he oversaw the financial operations of the Zappos family of companies, reporting directly to CEO Tony Hsieh. Since 2006, Akrop played a leading role in restructuring and optimizing the Zappos finance organization into various specialties.
Akrop didn’t hold back when aiming Vroom’s target directly at dealers.
“I see a lot of parallels between where Vroom is today in the automotive industry and where Zappos was in the retail industry 10 years ago,” Akrop said. “There’s a huge demand for this type of service, and I’m excited to help Vroom transform the car buying experience to make it as easy and enjoyable as buying a pair of shoes.”
Vroom certainly isn’t alone in trying to muscle in where dealers have thrived for decades. Following its most successful quarter ever, Carvana announced back in May that it expanded its footprint to meet customer enthusiasm for buying vehicles completely online.
Carvana expanded to Texas, doubling its capacity with a new 30-acre operations center in Dallas. With the new center, the company can now offer free next-day delivery to Dallas-area customers, on top of shoppers in Atlanta, Nashville, Tenn., Charlotte, N.C., and Birmingham, Ala.
Companies such as Vroom and Carvana are catching the attention of other online outlets that cater to consumers whose connection to the Web is as vital as the air they breathe.
Earlier this summer, a website called The Cheat Sheet posted a commentary titled, “10 New Car Trends Taking Over the Automotive World.” At the midway point of the rundown, the site touched on Telsa’s ongoing pursuit of retailing its electric vehicles directly to consumers without dealerships. The segment came with a description that might dealer principals upset, stating the trend was to “Eliminate the Middleman.”
Now before dismissing the sentiment as a single blogger, The Cheat Sheet contends it “is the largest and most comprehensive modern man’s premium lifestyle site.
“The Cheat Sheet is the ultimate, high-quality set of time-saving cheats/guides to everything modern men want, need and ought to know, do or buy so they can get the most out of life.”
So as if dealers didn’t have enough challenges — compressed margins and rising costs to remain compliant and efficient — perhaps now store managers and owners need to keep a close watch of operations that have a minimum physical presence but likely a growing online footprint.
“Elevating the experience of buying and selling your car online is crucial for Vroom in its quest to disrupt the automotive industry,” Buzzard said. “Our goal is to make the mobile experience in particular as convenient and delightful as possible.”
The TPC Management Co. announced that it has promoted Jiles Wanna to the position of partner with the firm.
Wanna has been with TPC for 11 years, serving as the director of business development as well as a member of TPC’s administrative staff for the Auction Academy and ServNet Auctions.
“Jiles has been a long standing and valuable member of our team,” said Pierre Pons, TPC’s president. “With his many years of experience and industry training he has played a significant role in our firm’s growth and success. We look forward to having him work more closely with many of our auction clients to help them expand their business relationships with institutional accounts.”
Wanna became a Certified Automotive Remarketer (CAR) in 2012. He also previously completed the Vehicle Remarketing Industry Certification via the International Automotive Remarketers Alliance and Northwood University program as well as Manheim’s Condition Report Writer Certification.
For more info on TPC, visit its site here.
KAR Auction Services announced Monday an internal promotion to fill the role of AuctionTrac’s chief innovation officer.
Taking on the position is Michael Newman, who will be responsible for leading the AuctionTrac’s development and implementation of new technology initiatives and the enhancement of its current offerings, including mobile apps, and cultivating the company’s culture of innovation.
“Since joining the KAR group of companies during the 2011 acquisition of AuctionTrac, Michael has played a crucial role in enhancing our technology offerings,” said David Vignes, KAR’s executive vice president of enterprise optimization. “Through the groundbreaking AuctionTrac Dealer App, which Michael was instrumental to developing, we have greatly streamlines operations and enhanced the way our customers do business.”
In his new role, Newman will also continue to create innovative tools for employees’ day-to-day tasks to streamline their processes.
Newman is a co-founder and formerly a senior vice president of AuctionTrac.
