As one of its divisions celebrates its 20th anniversary of operations, KAR Global welcomed three additions to its board of directors in an effort to expand diversity and cross-industry expertise.

The newest board members include Stefan Jacoby, David DiDomenico and Mary Ellen Smith.

KAR Global highlighted Jacoby has more than 30 years of automotive industry experience, most recently in mobility ventures. Over his 20-year career, DiDomenico has managed investment portfolios at various financial firms. Smith brings extensive knowledge of global operations and digital transformation from her 20 years at Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard.

“At KAR, we continue to lead the transformation of the remarketing industry by making strategic investments and accelerating our digital innovation and global expansion,” KAR Global chairman and chief executive officer Jim Hallett said in a news release.

“It only makes sense that we tap board talent with decades of experience in financial investments like David, with the automotive industry success that Stefan has achieved and with the deep global operations and technology expertise that Mary Ellen brings to the table,” Hallett continued.

“Our board of directors with diverse backgrounds and deep knowledge will help lead the KAR Global evolution into an even more data-driven, technology-enabled company,” Hallett went on to say.

Jacoby has served in international executive leadership and C-suite roles at Volkswagen, Mitsubishi, Volvo and General Motors during his 30-year automotive industry career. Before transitioning into his current advisory and mentorship roles focused on mobility and autonomous and electric vehicles, Jacoby was a member of the General Motors global leadership team as executive vice president at GM International operations in Singapore. He has served on the boards of GM Korea and Volvo and as the chairman of the Auto Alliance in Washington, D.C.

For the past nine years, DiDomenico has been a partner at JANA Partners, where he previously served as a portfolio manager for funds focused on event-driven strategy. DiDomenico has more than 20 years of investment management and acquisition experience, serving in leadership positions at several financial firms.

Smith has spent the past 13 years advancing her career through multiple leadership roles at Microsoft, where she is currently corporate vice president of worldwide business operations. During her time at Microsoft, she has helped lead global strategy for digital business operations transformation. Before joining Microsoft, she served in operations leadership positions at Hewlett-Packard. Smith has been honored by the state of Nevada with the Governor’s Distinguished Business Award, was presented the Chairman’s Award for leadership at Microsoft and was named one of the Top Women in Tech and a Woman of Influence.

“At KAR Global, our employees and our board of directors are laser-focused on becoming the leading end-to-end global remarketing solution for our customers,” Hallett said.

“Through our acquisitions, integrations and innovations, we have taken many steps toward powering automotive marketplaces across the world. Our new board leaders can help us continue the journey,” he went on to say.

AutoVIN celebrates two decades

In other company news, KAR Global also announced the 20-year anniversary of its business unit AutoVIN, one of the largest providers of off-lease, field-based vehicle inspection services.

The company highlighted AutoVIN employees across North America are celebrating two decades of data-driven advancements and technology solutions that are designed to streamline the vehicle inspection process. AutoVIN strives to give OEMs, financial institutions and fleet lease companies independent and reliable vehicle inspections.   

“It’s hard to imagine now, considering its level of expertise in the inspection business, that AutoVIN started as a small team of inspectors with just one customer,” KAR president Peter Kelly said.

“From these humble beginnings, AutoVIN has grown to play a key role in the lease experience ecosystem, with hundreds of team members delivering superior service to our customers — leaders in the automotive industry,” Kelly continued.

Over the past five years, KAR Global pointed out that it has made meaningful investments in AutoVIN, including the 2015 acquisition of DataScan Field Services’ inspection business. The integration of proprietary technology into the AutoVIN platform was geared to offer speed and innovation coupled with security and reliability.

The company emphasized the platform’s self-inspection capabilities are benefitting customers beyond traditional remarketing by better connecting them with dealers and retail customers for end-of-lease inspections.

As part of the KAR Global family, AutoVIN plays an integral role in creating a seamless, end-to-end remarketing solution.  

“AutoVIN has been smart and agile, anticipating and meeting the needs of our client base and beyond. I can’t wait to see what the future holds for our team,” Kelly said.