SANTA MONICA, Calif. -

TrueCar named its executive vice president of OEM development on Tuesday, appointing longtime Edmunds and automaker exec Michael Darrow to the role.

Darrow was most recently the chief sales officer at Edmunds, where he worked for more than 14 years in a variety of positions.

In the new post with TrueCar, Darrow will head up new OEM program initiatives supporting “TrueCar’s ongoing commitment to create a best-in-class modern automotive marketplace.”

Darrow will report to Chip Perry, TrueCar’s president and chief executive officer.

“Mike has a truly unique background and will be a huge asset for TrueCar because he has deep experience and success as both an OEM executive and as an early pioneer and innovator in the online auto industry,” Perry said in a news release.

“No one else in the third-party space can say they have managed a billion dollar OEM incentive budget and held a long-time senior executive role at an industry-leading third party,” he said. “Mike will be leveraging the insights he gained from these two symbiotic industries to help us take our existing OEM incentives platform to an entirely new level.”

Darrow’s first role with his former employer was as CEO of Edmunds Data Center, before transitioning to a position as executive vice president of sales and launching Edmunds OEM advertising efforts. His last position there was as chief sales officer.

Darrow spent close to two decades with Chrysler and Nissan before joining Edmunds.

“I'm very excited to lead TrueCar’s drive to enhance and grow its OEM relationships and targeted incentives business,” Darrow said.  “I believe the company's unique closed loop attribution model and its unparalleled affinity partnerships provide a very compelling opportunity for OEMs to significantly improve the efficiency and effectiveness of their incentive programs, which have grown to become more than two times larger than all of their combined traditional and digital advertising spending.”