I see a lot of parallels between where Vroom is today in the automotive industry and where Zappos was in the retail industry 10 years ago.
New York, NY (PRWEB) August 17, 2015
Vroom (http://www.vroom.com), the largest online pre-owned car retailer, today announced three new hires joining its executive leadership team. Michael Akrop, who previously led the finance team at Zappos, has been hired as Vroom’s first Chief Financial Officer. In addition, Paula Buzzard, who worked in product development at Google, will serve as the company’s first Chief Product Officer. Finally, Emily Scott Frankel, formerly Vice President of Digital Marketing & Innovation at KAYAK, has joined the company as Vice President of Marketing.
“We’re thrilled to be expanding our leadership team with three hires who have deep experience at some of the most successful consumer web properties in the world,” said Elie Wurtman, Executive Chairman of Vroom. “We look forward to welcoming Michael, Paula, and Emily to the Vroom team and learning from their vast expertise.”
Michael Akrop was previously VP of Finance at Zappos, where he oversaw the financial operations of the Zappos family of companies, reporting directly to CEO Tony Hsieh. Since 2006, Michael played a leading role in restructuring and optimizing the Zappos finance organization into various specialties.
“I see a lot of parallels between where Vroom is today in the automotive industry and where Zappos was in the retail industry 10 years ago,” said Akrop. “There’s a huge demand for this type of service, and I’m excited to help Vroom transform the car buying experience to make it as easy and enjoyable as buying a pair of shoes.”
Paula Buzzard was previously at Google working on product development and prior to that, she was General Manager of Digital Health and Fitness at American Media Inc. (AMI), where she managed six digital brands, including Shape, Muscle & Fitness, Fit Pregnancy and Natural Health. She has also served as Executive Vice President of Global Products at Fox Mobile Group.
“Elevating the experience of buying and selling your car online is crucial for Vroom in its quest to disrupt the automotive industry,” said Buzzard. “Our goal is to make the mobile experience in particular as convenient and delightful as possible.”
Emily Scott Frankel was previously Vice President of Digital Marketing & Innovation at KAYAK, and had been with the company since 2008. Emily was responsible for overhauling KAYAK’s search marketing efforts and leveraging data to build the company’s display buying capability. She has been named to the Skift50 list of the top 50 travel marketers around the globe.
“I’m excited to help Vroom ramp up its marketing efforts and use data to improve the customer experience and help spread the word about the company’s unprecedented innovation,” said Frankel. “I’m eager to apply my experience with bringing the travel industry online to this new challenge of disrupting the automotive industry with technology.”
All three new hires will be based in Vroom’s New York City office.
About Vroom:
Vroom is the largest online car store in the U.S. It is the only company that helps customers save time, hassle and money by bringing all three aspects of the car buying process – buying, financing and selling – online in an easy, transparent and affordable way. Vroom offers thousands of high quality, refurbished, pre-owned vehicles with free delivery to customers’ doors nationwide. Vroom was founded by experienced tech startup veterans and automotive industry experts, and the company is based in New York and Dallas. For more information, visit Vroom.com.
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