CHICAGO -

Skip Dowd, who led the launch of AutoMart.com in 2004 before it was acquired and integrated into AutoTrader.com in 2009, has joined Xcite Automotive as chief sales officer.

Dowd, whose 28 years of automotive industry experience includes roles involved with driving revenue, profitability, and performance, also previously served for eight years as executive vice president of sales and business development for the Contact At Once Liveperson Automotive team.

At Xcite Automotive, an automotive vehicle merchandising, lot services, and logistics company, Dowd will provide leadership, direction, and an executive vision for the sales organization. The company said that will ensure alignment with the company’s financial and strategic goals.

He will serve on the senior executive team, helping set the company’s future strategy.

During Dowd’s eight-year tenure at Contact At Once, his team experienced strong growth at the dealer and OEM levels in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia and Canada, according to Xcite.

Dowd said in a news release that Xcite Automotive “is poised for continued growth” as it helps dealers provide photos, videos, and user-controlled spins of what he described as a continually changing inventory to online shoppers.

“Dealers today are under tremendous pressure to provide a better user experience for online shoppers across the web and social sites, and they often need assistance at the lot level to keep up,” Dowd said.

He added that Xcite’s services extend to the showroom and the lot with window stickers, buyer’s guides, and pre-owned Inventory guides, which he said, “enhance the customers’ experience upon arrival.”

“We're excited to have Skip join our senior team,” Xcite Automotive chief executive officer Phil Penton said.

He continued, “We are investing in new technologies, services, and teams during a period of expansion across the U.S. and overseas. Skip’s expertise in sales execution and vast knowledge across the automotive industry will be a benefit to the Xcite Automotive team and our dealer customers.”