Impel is adding to its executive leadership team in its goal to position the company for continued long-term expansion.
These hires and new positions comes after Impel, which specializes in AI sales and marketing automation for the automotive industry, recently acquired Outsell, a leading automotive customer engagement platform, in a deal valued at more than $100 million.
Devin Daly, CEO and co-founder of Impel, noted the moves comes as “the adoption of AI in automotive is accelerating at a breakneck pace across all geographies and sectors of the industry. Vertical AI models and applications are becoming indispensable to automotive retailers, marketplaces, and OEMs around the world as the foundational engine that unlocks additional value from existing data and operational systems.”
Personnel Moves Include Eric Portman
The moves made by the company include Eric Portman joining the company as Chief Technology Officer, Matthew Muilenburg as Chief Product Officer, Andrew Lumsden as Senior Vice President of Platform Services, John Clavadetscher as Chief Commercial Officer, and Steve Saporta as Chief Information Security Officer. Clavadetscher was formerly with Outsell.
Portman has over three decades of experience in designing and delivering mission critical solutions across various industries. Prior to joining Impel, Portman served as Senior Vice President of Product and Engineering at Cox Automotive, where he led a team of more than 1,200 product and engineering professionals around the globe. At Cox, he spearheaded product and technology innovation, including the technical integration of acquired products. Additionally, Portman led the development of proprietary data and machine learning-powered applications, process automation, and customer solutions to drive significant revenue growth and operational efficiencies.
“As the category creator and industry standard for enterprise grade Automotive AI, Impel is uniquely positioned to bring cutting-edge AI-enabled process and technology automation to OEMs, dealers, marketplaces, and technology providers alike,” said Portman in a press statement announcing the moves. “In today’s global economy, helping the industry to effectively adopt and implement purpose-built AI solutions at scale is a strategic imperative to ensure sustained operational performance and profitability. I’m delighted to be a part of this organization, and I can’t wait to contribute to Impel’s vision of a unified AI platform that powers all channels and touchpoints throughout the automotive retail ecosystem.”
Muilenburg Joins Impel
A seasoned technology and product development executive, Muilenburg previously served as Chief Market Development Officer at Marchex, a leading AI-powered conversational intelligence provider. There, he led the unification of the company’s solutions into a verticalized technology platform, leading to significant business growth across multiple sectors.
As Senior Vice President and Head of Industry for Automotive at Marchex, Muilenburg delivered verticalized OEM solutions and landed key enterprise clients including General Motors, Ford, Stellantis, and Honda Motors of America. Prior to that, Muilenburg served as Vice President of Global OEM Solutions at CDK, where he led global market expansion as well as product strategy and platform integration of numerous acquisitions.
“Impel has an established track record of success in enabling automotive manufacturers and retailers to deliver consistently exceptional experiences across the customer journey, while enhancing operational efficiency and profitability,” said Muilenburg. “As we bring to market the auto industry’s first end-to-end AI Sales and Marketing Automation platform, the opportunities for growth are limitless.”
Lumsden’s New Role
Lumsden, formerly Chief Product Officer, has been appointed to the newly created role of Senior Vice President of Platform Services. As Impel continues to make significant inroads with automotive OEMs, marketplaces, and enterprise groups around the world, the ability to deliver customized enterprise applications and globally scalable platforms has become critical to company growth.
To meet these needs, Lumsden will lead the development of shared services and applications, as well as expanding the company’s ecosystem of technical integrations and client engineering capabilities across the globe. Additionally, Lumsden will spearhead the development of enterprise-level product testing and experimentation processes, enabling greater data utilization and application across the company.
New Roles for Outsell Veterans
Clavadetscher, formerly President of Outsell, brings more than 25 years of experience successfully scaling high-growth software and digital companies. At Outsell, Clavadetscher was instrumental in dramatically increasing revenue, bookings, and retention, which led to the acquisition by Impel. Prior to Outsell, Clavadetscher was on the founding team and served as President of Cooler Screens Inc., the largest in-store digital retail media platform in the US.
Previously, Clavadetscher was on the founding team and subsequently spent 20 years at Cars Commerce , a leading automotive technology company that includes Cars.com, Dealer Inspire, and AccuTrade. While there, he scaled the company’s go-to-market operations, accelerating revenue and retention in various leadership roles. He was serving as Chief Revenue Officer, leading the commercial and operations functions, when the company went public in 2017.
As Chief Information Security Officer, Saporta’s new role reflects the critical importance of global data security and privacy, according to company officials. Saporta will spearhead Impel’s development and delivery of global information security, privacy, and data protection policies, protocols, processes, and systems. Additionally, he will oversee the continued availability and reliability of the Company’s SaaS (Software as a Service) and AI solutions, ensuring optimal performance for the automotive retailers and OEMs who depend on Impel technology to support core business operations.
“Our recent acquisition of Outsell creates a powerhouse of more than 170 Engineering, R&D, and Product Development specialists focused on creating unparalleled AI solutions and seamlessly integrated products–and we’ll continue to scale the organization to drive global growth,” stated Daly. “Impel is at the forefront of the AI revolution, and these leadership additions will enable us to deliver a single, unified AI platform and solidify our position as the de facto standard for enterprise grade Automotive AI around the world.”
