CARMEL, Ind., Jan. 15, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- TradeRev, North America's leading dealer-to-dealer digital auction platform, announced several key executive appointments in advance of their annual MOVE METAL® event at next week's National Auto Dealers Association Show 2019 Expo. Kayne Grau, formerly president of Data as a Service at TradeRev parent KAR Auction Services, Inc. (NYSE:KAR), has been hired as executive vice president, U.S. and commercial sales. Additionally, Keith Crerar has been named executive vice president, global operations and will oversee all dealer success efforts from registration to auction experience to comprehensive post-sale support and logistics. The moves are aimed at accelerating the company's North American expansion and helping dealers succeed through a more simplified experience with personalized, hands-on support.
"At TradeRev, we are customer obsessed and passionate about making the auction experience fast, fair and easy for everyone," said Becca Polak, TradeRev president and chief legal counsel, secretary at KAR. "Keith has spent his career working alongside dealers and understanding their challenges – his service-first approach will ensure our customers receive the best, most responsive and personalized service in the industry. And we're thrilled to welcome Kayne and his entrepreneurial mindset to our team. He is a widely respected dealer advocate who will help inject our offerings with additional data analytics and technology horsepower."
These moves follow the recent release of TradeRev's MOVE METAL® services menu, offering dealers highly customized support levels ranging from self-service to full-service. The menu includes the company's TradeReadysm seller protection, an optional service that guarantees no post-sale returns or arbitrations. Crerar will continue to standardize and streamline the TradeRev experience for dealers across North America while deploying innovative new approaches to address some of the auction industry's historical challenges.
"We are completely redefining customer support in the auction industry," said Crerar. "It's not about finding a better way to address existing challenges – it's about reinventing the auction experience to completely eliminate pain points altogether. The combination of our industry-leading technology and empowered dealer success crew means every customer will have the fastest moving marketplace for buying, selling and transporting cars with real-live, human support."
Grau joined KAR through the acquisition of DRIVIN in 2017. He has played a large role in fortifying KAR's data analytics capabilities and syndicating the DRIVIN predictive analytics tools across KAR's portfolio of physical, online and digital auction marketplaces. At TradeRev, he will focus on accelerating the company's expansion in new and existing markets and overseeing the TradeRev ground crew supporting dealers who select full-service options. He will also leverage his deep portfolio management expertise to help TradeRev customers succeed by taking a more informed and holistic view of their used inventory.
"Dealers are still hungry for innovative solutions that save them time and money – and TradeRev is not slowing down," said Grau. "Our Move Metal service offerings give dealers the flexibility to sell and source however they choose – with the confidence and dependability of the dealer success crew behind them all the way. I look forward to working with our broad customer-base and introducing them to these and other new capabilities in 2019 and beyond."
Also announced this week are several promotions within the TradeRev sales organization. Kathy Hopkins, formerly director of dealer sales at sister business unit, ADESA has joined the team as vice president of sales covering the North Central, Mountain & West U.S. regions. Additionally, Will Farmer has been promoted to vice president of sales for the Northeast, Southeast, South Central U.S. regions.
Dealers can demo TradeRev at NADA booth #521S January 25-27, 2019 and can register for this year's MOVE METAL concert by visiting movemetal.traderev.com
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About KAR Auction Services
KAR Auction Services (NYSE: KAR) provides sellers and buyers across the global wholesale used vehicle industry with innovative, technology-driven remarketing solutions. KAR's unique end-to-end platform supports whole car, salvage, financing, logistics and other ancillary and related services, including the sale of more than 5.5 million units valued at over $40 billion through our auctions. Our integrated physical, online and mobile marketplaces reduce risk, improve transparency and streamline transactions for customers in 120 countries. Headquartered in Carmel, Ind., KAR has approximately 17,500 employees across the United States, Canada, Mexico and the United Kingdom. For more information go to www.karauctionservices.com. For the latest KAR news follow us on Twitter @KARspeaks.
SOURCE TradeRev
