Tampa, Fla.-based auto retail tech startup Stella Automotive AI, funded by dealership group Maroon USA and part of the Pohanka Automotive Group, has hired auto industry consultant Rich Sands as its new CEO .
His hiring, effective May 26, was announced on Monday, after the company announced in early May that it had closed a seed round of funding.
In addition to Jeffrey Pohanka, 2023 Chairman of the National Automobile Dealers Association and Group Chairman of the same name, and Mike Maroon, CEO of Maroon USA, participants in the funding round include Chubay Family Enterprises, Denver and Atlanta. It included the Presidio Group, an investment banking and advisory firm. On automotive retail and consumer mobility.
Ken Zubey, partner at Phil Smith Auto Group, said: car news Czubay Family Enterprises is his family’s “small investment vehicle,” he said.
Stella Automotive did not immediately disclose the amount raised in this round.
Sands, 49, most recently was the founder of True North Enterprise, a consultant in auto sales, digital marketing and data intelligence. Prior to that, he was an automotive executive at J.D. He Power and an information technology manager at Ford He Motor Company, according to his LinkedIn profile. He also worked at Microsoft.
Sands is and remains a strategic advisor to Presidio.
Jocelyn Boudet, founder and former CEO of Stella Automotive, said in a statement that Sands’ knowledge of the automotive industry and expertise in big data will propel the company into a “hyper-growth period.” said it would help. Boudetto will remain chairman.
Florida-based Telepathy Labs, which develops conversational voice and chatbot technology for industries and businesses, will launch Stella Automotive in 2022 as a standalone business focused on conversational artificial intelligence technology for automotive retail. rice field. The technology targets dealer operations, customer satisfaction and operational efficiency. Stella Automotive has an exclusive license for Telepathy Labs conversational AI technology.
