Fleet management provider LeasePlan USA recently announced is expansion plans, including the addition of several employees in departments across the company.
Its two newest sales professionals include Lisa Carter and Roston Willis. Carter joins the company as vice president of client relations, regional accounts while Willis takes on the role of vice president of sales, national accounts.
“We have seen a steady growth in new business over the past few years and have responded by reinforcing our staff numbers in order to continue to meet the needs of our clients,” said Jon Toups, the company’s chief commercial officer. “We are happy to welcome such excellent fleet management employees as Lisa Carter and Roston Willis to LeasePlan.”
Carter brings 11 years of experience in the fleet management industry from Merchants Fleet Management. She now works to help clients reduce total cost of ownership and offers new solutions to create efficiencies.
Willies earned seven years of fleet management sales experience at Ryder Transportation. For LeasePlan, he will analyze prospective clients’ fleet operations to identify possible areas to save money and employ efficient practices.
For more information on LeasePlan USA, visit its site here.
Dealer solution provider String Automotive has announced several staffing changes, including a new chief operating offer and senior vice president of customer success.
Appointed to that role was Jessica Chaset. In this position, Chaset will be responsible for the customer-facing facets of the company, including account management, customer support, sales and marketing.
“As String grows and works with a growing portfolio of dealers and agency partners to implement strategy based on the insights found in the Dealer Positioning System, it became apparent that we needed to transition from a development-driven to a customer-driven organization,” said Ken Kolodziej, the company’s chief executive officer.
“Ms. Chaset brings a laser focus on the customer to our organization, along with experience in a wide variety of operations, product strategy and client development roles,” he added. “She will bring key alignment across all of our customer-facing functions.”
The CEO also announced other staffing changes, including the following:
- Michael Hill: Promoted to chief technology officer and senior vice president of engineering; formerly vice president of engineering.
- Stephen Thompson: Promoted to lead engineer; will be responsible for day-to-day spring management for engineering team.
- Other hires include: Brooke Wiebers and Stacy Maddy, both formerly of Cars.com.
For more information on String Automotive, visit its site here.
Auto logistics services provider MetroGistics announced Wednesday the hiring into the company’s new position of executive vice president and business development/sales partner.
Filling the position will be David Larson, who the company says will aim to help the company grow its business on multiple fronts, focusing on strategic sales development for both new vehicles and large remarketing accounts.
“David brings a wealth of industry knowledge and expertise to our team,” said Scott Naz, the company’s co-founder and managing partner. “As we continue to grow organically and through strategic acquisition, Dave’s experiences will help lead the MetroGistics and Precision Motor Transport combination to exponential growth within the finished-vehicle space.
“His expertise in customer development will be critical as we look to expand our reach across multiple strategic customer segments.”
The new EVP most recently worked for Jack Cooper Holdings as the vice president of Europe and Asia. Larson also brings in previous experience from positions such as senior vice president, business development with United Road; director of business development with both the Axis Group and The Pasha Group; as well as the logistics manager with Kia Motors America.
More information on MetroGistics can be found on its website.
RVI Group announced two vice president promotions within the company this week.
First up, Rene Abdalah has been promoted to senior vice president and is responsible for RVI’s passenger vehicles business.
Abdalah joined the company in 2002, and management said his “strong leadership, forward thinking mentality and commitment to continued product innovation have been key to the success of the business.”
“Rene has been instrumental in the evolution of the passenger vehicle business. His strategic ability, knowledge of the auto industry, and analytical expertise combine to create a unique capability to drive further growth of the business. We are delighted to have Rene on the team!” said Douglas May, chief executive officer of RVI.
Before joining the team at RVI, Abdalah was a principle at The Campbell Group in Boston, and prior to this spent four years at Standard & Poor’s Global Automotive Group.
Secondly, Wei Fan have been promoted to senior vice president, as well, responsible for RVI’s risk management and quantitative analysis.
Fan joined RVI in 2007 and has made contributions since then to the company’s risk management, underwriting and financial analysis methodologies.
“Virtually every aspect of how our business is managed has been improved through Wei’s contributions; we are very fortunate to have someone of his caliber on our team,” said Daniel Egan, executive vice president and chief risk officer of RVI.
The company noted: “Prior to joining RVI, Wei was a director with JD Power & Associates, where he directed the development of a number of used-vehicle valuation applications as chief designer and methodologist including the total loss valuation system currently used by major insurance carriers.”
RVI management said it expect another strong performance this year “and are confident that we have the best team in place to make it happen.”
Penske Automotive Group has promoted a new chief financial officer.
J.D. Carlson, the company’s senior vice president and corporate controller, has been named executive vice president and CFO.
This move was made following the announcement that David Jones is resigning from his role as EVP and CFO at Penske to accept a similar role with another company.
Jones will stay on with Penske until the end of the month in an advisory role.
In another related promotion, Shelley Hulgrave has been promoted from corporate accounting manager — a position she has filled since 2006 — to corporate controller.
Carlson, the new CFO, joined the company in 2006 as VP and corporate controller and was promoted to senior VP in May 2011, and was also named the company’s principle accounting officer.
“Mr. Carlson has a strong operational and technical background in finance and accounting and will be responsible for all aspects of the company's financial operations,” company management said. “ His experience and tenure with the Penske Automotive organization will maintain the integrity and discipline of our worldwide financial operations and provide a solid foundation for success in this new role.”
Cars.com announced this week it has named a new vice president of human resources.
Formerly the chief human resources officer at the Ferrara Candy Company, Cynthia Hiskes now takes on the role with Cars.com where she will oversee all human resources functions for the company.
Hiskes will report directly to Alex Vetter, the company’s chief executive officer and president.
“I am thrilled to welcome Cynthia to the Cars.com leadership team,” Vetter said. “She brings a wealth of global human resources and business leadership to the company and her proven track record of success building talent management-driven organizations will be an asset to Cars.com. Cynthia will enable us to better recruit and retain talent that will move our business forward, while upholding the company’s strong culture.”
Prior to her time with Ferrara, Hiskes also served as the global human resources director for Rexam, a London-based company, as well as a variety of HR management roles at Freescale Semiconductor and a series of operations-focused positions at Procter & Gamble.
“This is an exciting time to join Cars.com as the company enhances its focus on making car shopping, selling and servicing a great experience,” Hiskes said. “I look forward to accelerating our brand, technical agility, product innovation and customer service and sales channels as we enhance our growth as a leading digital marketing company.”
KAR Auction Services announced Wednesday that it has promoted Carolyn Bogan to the position of vice president of KAR’s IT Shared Services.
Bogan, who joined KAR in September 2013 as the director of support services, is now responsible for the oversight and strategic vision of all workplace services and will serve as the main contact for all IT support-related needs.
The new VP will also develop and implement programs to help strengthen technical support operations.
“Carolyn’s extensive experience in technical support, paired with her outstanding level of performance with information security, makes her the best fit for this position,” said Gary Watkins, the company’s chief information officer of IT Shared Services. “We are confident that she will be an essential contribution to the continued growth and success of the company.”
Prior to joining the company as director of support services, Bogan was the director of the global service desk at Smiths Business Information Services in Dublin, Ohio. She was also the manager of the Technology Assistance Center for Waste Management in Houston.
Manheim announced Tuesday that it has promoted one of its employees to the position of general manager at Manheim Nevada.
Continuing his seven-year run with Manheim and filling the GM position is Eddie Lafferty, who joins the Nevada location from his previous post at Manheim Seattle, where he served as assistant general manager since 2012.
“Eddie’s experience in the wholesale and retail vehicle industries gives him a great understanding of what our customers need to be successful,” said Barry Roop, regional vice president of west region operations. “Our company and customers in Nevada will benefit from Eddie’s insights. It’s very rewarding to promote a deserving individual to a new leadership position within our company.”
With 27 years of automotive industry experience, Lafferty helped Manheim Seattle achieve more than 50 awards and accolades during his time with the auction. In addition to being Manheim Seattle’s assistant general manager, he also served as a commercial accounts manager for the company.
Before joining Manheim, Lafferty worked in the sales, finance and service departments of several dealerships throughout Washington.
Inventory management and marketing solutions provider Liquid Motors announced Thursday the appointment of a new vice president of sales. Filling the position is 20-year industry veteran Joseph Cote, who most recently served as the national remarketing manager for United Auto Credit.
“Joe brings a wealth of experience in the automotive industry particularly in the wholesale side of the business,” said Michael Daseke, the company’s president and chief executive officer. “His understanding of the business from all sides, remarketer to auto auction to dealership, as well as his existing relationships in the industry, makes him a great addition to the Liquid Motors management team.”
Prior to working for Liquid Motors and United Auto Credit, Cote was the executive sales director for KAR Auction Services, where he was responsible for increasing sold unit volume of Enterprise Holdings as well as customer sales training to Telesales Team.
“As an experienced remarketing manager, I am excited to be associated with Liquid Motors,” Cote said. “Vehicle remarketing is constantly focused on driving vehicle values through maximizing buyer engagement and Liquid Motors provides a legitimate strategy to accomplish this.”
In his new position, Cote will focus on expanding the sales efforts for the company’s wholesale merchandising solutions to independent auto auctions, remarketers and other wholesale industry companies.
More information about the company can be found on the Liquid Motors website.
FordDirect announced today the promotion of 15 of its employees to senior director and director-level positions in its finance, information technology, sales and marketing, and product strategy departments.
The company’s promotions, in their respective departments, include the following, provided by FordDirect:
Finance
- Mia Anderson is promoted from director of cash management and financial analysis to senior director, profit analysis. She earned a bachelor's degree in finance from University of Michigan.
- Darlene Deeg is promoted from accounting and finance manager to director, accounting. She earned a bachelor's degree in accounting from Wayne State University and a master's degree in taxation from Walsh College.
Information Technology
- Luke Fricker is promoted from director to senior director, DealerConnection platform. He earned a bachelor's degree in information systems from University of Wisconsin-Madison and a Master of Business Administration from University of Michigan-Dearborn.
- Erik Marlin is promoted from director to senior director, technology. He pursued a bachelor's degree in computer engineering from University of Michigan.
- Manu Misra is promoted from director to senior director, architecture. Manu earned a Master of Business Administration from University of Meerut in India and a master's degree in industrial information systems engineering from University of Michigan-Dearborn.
- Harish Ramchandani is promoted from director to senior director, strategy and Lincoln Personalized Online Experience (LPOE). He earned a Master of Business Administration from University of Michigan.
- Marina Safroniy is promoted from manager to director, consumer marketing platform. She earned a bachelor's degree in computer science from University of Michigan-Dearborn and a Master of Business Administration in technology management from University of Phoenix.
Product Strategy
- Teresa Meehan is promoted from advertising director to senior director, digital advertising. She earned a bachelor's degree in advertising from Michigan State University.
- Marcia Sorensen is promoted from Ford and Lincoln enterprise director to senior director, original equipment manufacturer (OEM) operations. She earned a bachelor's degree in business administration from Washington University in St. Louis and a Master of Business Administration in strategic quality leadership from Eastern Michigan University.
- Keith Spondike is promoted from director to senior director, consumer marketing. He earned a bachelor's degree in finance from Oakland University and a Master of Business Administration in marketing from Wayne State University.
- Laquita Carpenter is promoted from senior manager, consumer marketing, to director, consumer marketing. She studied marketing at Tennessee State University and earned a bachelor's degree in business administration.
- Emily Eldridge is promoted from dealer relations manager, consumer marketing, to director, consumer marketing. She earned a bachelor's degree in general management from Michigan State University.
Sales & Marketing
- David Grandy is promoted from director, dealer operations to senior director, dealer operations. Grandy has 24 years of automotive experience.
- Heather Blunt is promoted from training manager to director, select dealer region and training initiatives. Blunt has more than 20 years of automotive experience, including 12 years with FordDirect.
- Brett Moore is promoted from advertising manager to director, Lincoln customer engagement. He earned a bachelor's degree in marketing from Purdue University.
