Burlington, VT – Dealer.com, the global leader in automotive Internet marketing solutions, today announced that Mitch Truwit and Marcelo Gigliani of Apax Partners will be joining the company’s Board of Directors. Apax Partners recently acquired an approximately 30 percent stakein Dealer.com from Yellow Media Inc.
As part of the transfer in ownership from Yellow Media, Marc P. Tellier, Doug A. Clarke and Normand Théberge will be stepping down from the Dealer.com Board.
“We welcome Mitch and Marcelo to the Board, and view their appointment as the first step of a long and successful relationship with Apax Partners. Their vast experience and knowledge, especially of digital companies, will be invaluable to Dealer.com as the company embarks upon the next stage of its growth,” said Mark Bonfigli, CEO of Dealer.com. “At the same time, we want to thank Marc, Doug and Normand for their guidance and contributions to Dealer.com, and wish them success.”
“All of us at Apax Partners are very excited to become a part of the success of Dealer.com,” said Mitch Truwit, partner at Apax Partners. “Dealer.com has continued to strengthen its leadership position in this important sector thanks to its culture of innovation. We believe that Dealer.com will continue to grow and produce industry-leading products in the coming years.”
In the last several years, Dealer.com has seen rapid acceleration in sales, customers and product introductions. Revenues reached $85 million in 2010, an increase of over 60 percent from 2009 and more than triple the 2008 level, and the company increased R&D spending more than 100 percent while adding key client relationships to its portfolio.
Mitch Truwit is a Partner at Apax Partners and Co-Head of its Financial & Business Services team. Prior to joining Apax Partners in 2006, Mitch was the President and CEO of Orbitz Worldwide, a subsidiary of Travelport, between 2005 and 2006 and was the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of priceline.com between 2001 and 2005. He serves as a Board member of Bankrate, Inc., Hub International, Advantage Sales & Marketing, Trader Corp and Dealer.com.
Mitch is a graduate of Vassar College where he received a BA in Political Science. He also has an MBA from Harvard Business School. Mitch is the Chairman of Street Squash, a Harlem-based urban youth enrichment program and is an honorary member of the Special Olympics of CT, an organization providing year-round sports training and athletic competition for children and adults with intellectual disabilities. Mitch was previously a member of PEC, an organization established to provide information about the private equity industry.
Marcelo Gigliani is a Partner in the Media team at Apax Partners. Since joining Apax Partners in 1999, Marcelo has both led and participated in a number of key investments across the Media, Technology, Business Services, and Healthcare sectors throughout North America and Europe, including Trader.com, Dealer.com, ALM, Cengage Learning, Wisdom Entertainment, Capio, Electro-Stocks, rue21, eDreams and Fractus. In addition to joining the Dealer.com board, Marcelo is currently a Director on the boards of Trader Corporation, Cengage Learning, and ALM.
Prior to joining Apax Partners, Marcelo was a Consultant for Mercer Management Consulting (now Oliver Wyman), where he advised leading European Media and Communications companies. Marcelo received a BSc in Business Administration from Boston University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
About Dealer.com (www.dealer.com)
Dealer.com is the global leader in online marketing solutions for the automotive industry, providing award-winning e-marketing solutions to OEMs, auto dealers and media companies. Headquartered in Burlington, Vermont with a satellite office in Manhattan Beach, California, the company’s innovative websites and integrated online tools include advertising alternatives that significantly lower the cost of customer acquisition, enhancing dealers’ efficiency and profitability.
Recent national and international accolades include placing No. 14 on Outside magazine’s 2011 list of Best Places to Work in America and receiving two Stevie Awards from the American Business Association for Best Overall Company of the Year and Fastest Growing Company of the year in 2011. Dealer.com has also by honored by Inc. magazine as one of the 2010 Top Small Company Workplaces in addition to securing a place on both the Inc. 5000 and Deloitte Technology Fast 500 rankings in 2010. Dealer.com wasalso ranked first in SEO effectiveness among auto dealer website providers for the third consecutive year in 2011 by Sorgenfrei LLC.
