CVB Summit: Event Speakers

Aaron Johnson |  Chief Executive Officer, Work Truck Solutions

Aaron was one of the early advisors for Work Truck Solutions and had a goal of elevating the company’s data platforms and corporate systems. He’s served in various capacities within the organization, recently moving into his current position as CEO in September of 2022. Over the years, he has managed all aspects of software development and delivery organizations, including executive leadership positions. Aaron’s experience includes delivering ERP solutions to large non-profit entities, including cities, counties, school districts, universities, and research organizations, as well as developing and implementing care management applications in healthcare IT. Aaron received his undergraduate in computer science and his master’s degree in business administration from CSU, Chico.

Kathryn Schifferle |  Chief Vision Officer, Work Truck Solutions

As Chief Vision Officer, Kathryn focuses on ways to supercharge the company’s role in helping customers through the evolution of the commercial vehicle industry. Prior to her current role, Kathryn served as CEO since founding Work Truck Solutions in 2011. She is dedicated to increasing efficiency and simplicity within the commercial vehicle space through Work Truck Solutions. Her passion for work trucks and vans started in 2007 when she became the Executive Director for the National Ford Truck Club, and began publishing FordPros Magazine. Prior to that, she founded software and media companies in two other industries. She holds an MBA from California State University Chico.

Daryl Adams |  President and CEO, Shyft Group

Daryl Adams is President and CEO of The Shyft Group, a leading last-mile and specialty vehicle manufacturer, comprised of nine go-to-market brands. In 2022 the organization achieved more than $1B in revenue. Adams is a veteran leader with over 30 years in the automotive industry, having held positions at Lear Corporation and Midway Products prior to joining Shyft in 2014 as the Chief Operating Officer. Within six months, he was moved into the role of President and Chief Executive Officer. Under his leadership, the company has rebranded from Spartan Motors to the Shyft Group, more than doubled its earnings and scale by completing six acquisitions and one divestiture, launching a new go-to-market EV brand, and multiple other industry-leading products.

Adams is a strong advocate for STEM education; he sits on boards for LEAP [he is no longer on Board] and Detroit Public Safety Foundation; Business Leaders for Michigan; and participates in various state and manufacturing associations to promote skilled trades. Adams earned an MBA from Michigan State University and received his Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Management and Manufacturing from Lawrence Technological University.

In May of 2022, he was named a Notable Leader in EV by Crain’s Detroit Business. He received the Entrepreneur of the Year 2022 Michigan and Northwest Ohio Award Winner in July of 2022 and was named to the “Detroit 500 list” of Influential Business Leaders in 2022, 2020, 2019, and 2018. In 2019, Adams was named the Manufacturing Executive of the Year and received the Workforce Champion Award on behalf of Michigan’s Capital Area Manufacturing Council. He was honored as one of 2018’s Most Transformative Leaders by MichBusiness. Adams and his wife have three children and live in Novi, Michigan.

John Bankes |  Vice President, Commercial Vehicle & Fleet Advisory Solutions, Escalent

As vice president of commercial vehicle and fleet advisory solutions at Escalent, John Bankes provides top-tier research and advisory solutions to guide clients in their strategic decision-making as they navigate the evolving commercial vehicle and fleet sector. He leverages his extensive experience with heavy commercial vehicles, aftermarket, OEMs and OE suppliers to provide insights on critical topics impacting this sector, including electrification, the competitive landscape, and total available market share. Building off of the extensive research capabilities for which Escalent is known, John is developing new commercial vehicle advisory services to help clients who are heavily invested in transforming their offerings to remain competitive.

Ann Brodette |  SVP of Sales, Eastern Region, Mitsubishi HC Capital America

With more than 30 years of top-performing sales experience and team/workforce development, Ms. Brodette leads the East Region of the country for the Transportation vertical. Highly detailed, strategic and financially minded, she has an unmatched work ethic and dedication to superior quality. With a certification in Project Manager (PMP), she keeps her finger on the pulse of our vendor relationships and excels at bringing ideas and wants from the field and turning them into actionable items and enhancements for our customers. Her vast entrepreneurial experience, culminating in co-founding, operating, and growing an award-winning national brand, has helped her bring a unique perspective to Mitsubishi HC Capital America as well as cultivating synergy across many departments. Ms. Brodette has a Bachelor of Economics Degree from University of Illinois, Champaign/Urbana IL.

Dan Bryan |  General Manager, Ricart to Business

Dan has spent 25 years with Ricart Automotive in Fixed Operations and is currently the General Manager of the Ricart to Business division overseeing a 115,000 square foot commercial/fleet sales and service operation. Dan has a passion for leadership and development of people to overcome and adapt to our evolving business environment.

Mandar D. Dighe |  Global Sales/Marketing and Business Development Executive, Knapheide

Mandar Dighe is Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Knapheide, a leader in vocational work truck bodies and systems solutions. Over the past 25 years, Mandar has held a variety of engineering, operations, sales, and business development leadership positions within the automotive and commercial vehicle sector. Leveraging his cross functional experiences, Mandar continues to embrace change and advance technological evolution within the transportation industry.
 

Tucker Erickson |  Managing Director, Holman Risk Partners

John “Tucker” Erickson has been in the Property Casualty Industry for over 30 years with a concentration on commercial automobile and trucking.  After graduating from Gettysburg College Tucker worked for Selective Insurance Company and Crum & Forster before becoming Sr. Vice President of ARI Insurance Company where he spent 20 years heading up Underwriting and Marketing.  After ARI was acquired by AmTrust, Tucker built a trucking program for Rivington Partners / Applied Underwriters before becoming Managing Director of Risk Partners Inc., a Holman Company.  Holman is an integrated automotive service company focused on fleet management, upfitting, vehicle equipment, vehicle sourcing and servicing, insurance, and investment in future mobility.  Today Tucker focuses on program development and oversight for a variety of wheels exposures.

Lauren Fletcher |  Executive Editor, Fleet, Trucking & Transportation, Bobit

Lauren Fletcher is the Executive Editor of Fleet, Trucking & Transportation at Bobit. Her focus is on content strategy and digital growth across these industry segments. She has been covering the truck and van fleet industry since 2006. With a passion for work truck fleets and the people that make it all happen, she is also the host of Truck Chat, a video and podcast series. Fletcher has authored hundreds of articles over her career in fleet, including the monthly Chatty Chassis blog.

Eric Foster |  Head of Marketing, Taycor Financial

Eric Foster is a highly skilled marketer with nearly two decades of experience leading customer acquisition. As VP of Marketing & Business Development at Taycor Financial, he has helped numerous companies achieve their growth goals. With a career focused on SaaS, e-commerce, and fintech, Eric possesses extensive expertise in digital strategy.

Eric's passion for technology extends beyond his marketing skills. He stays abreast of the latest trends and innovations, and he loves fusing technology with marketing strategies to achieve exceptional results. As a respected thought leader in both fintech and e-commerce, Eric brings a unique perspective to organizations interested in transformative business tactics.

Jameel Ghata |  Chief Strategy Officer, PAVE

Jameel is the Chief Strategy Officer at PAVE, a virtual vehicle inspection company changing the way the automotive industry performs vehicle inspections. By following a simple guided photo capture process, anyone, anywhere is transformed into a trusted vehicle inspector with PAVE.

Prior to joining PAVE, Jameel held senior positions at Manheim and Cox Automotive where he focused his efforts on utilizing advanced technologies to improve access to vehicle information and create trust and transparency in used vehicle valuations, remarketing, and merchandising.
 

Norm Gilbert |  Commercial Manager, Autonation Memphis

Norm has been with Ford in Memphis, TN for 10 years. Starting in retail sales, he worked his way up to management and later focused on commercial vehicle sales. He currently works as a commercial account and finance manager. He also helps Ford dealers to develop their commercial departments and works closely with Ford as their new commercial products and services are being introduced.

Steve Greenfield |  Founder & CEO, Automotive Ventures

Steve Greenfield is CEO and Founder of Automotive Ventures, an early-stage automotive technology and mobility VC fund that helps entrepreneurs raise growth capital and accelerate their businesses, and delivers outsized returns to investors in the fund.

Steve served as TrueCar’s Senior Vice President of Strategy and Business Development, and AutoTrader.com’s Vice President of Product Management and Business Development, overseeing the acquisitions of vAuto, Kelley Blue Book, HomeNet Automotive, VinSolutions and DealerScience.

Earlier in his career, Steve served as Manheim’s Director of international Development, overseeing Manheim’s overseas investments, including establishing new joint ventures in Dubai, Istanbul and Beijing.

Dave Herring |  SVP of Sales, Western Region, Mitsubishi HC Capital America

For over 30 years, Dave Herring has been a noteworthy leader in the commercial transportation finance space. In his current role as Vice President & General Manager of the Work Truck Finance, a division of Mitsubishi HC Capital America, Dave takes pride in providing the best finance experience for his commercial franchise dealer and upfitter customers. His leadership style and energetic nature have been imperative to his success in guiding multiple sales teams to achieving and exceeding their goals. His prior employment experience includes GE Capital, Marlin Financial Services, and Citi Capital. Dave graduated from Angelo State University with a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance.

Mark Hope |  COO & GM, EAVX

Mark has spent nearly 30 years in automotive and commercial vehicle development. He has a proven track record building innovative solutions in the electrification of delivery vehicles, fuel cell power systems and alternative fuel systems. Mark joined JBPCO in 2013 and served as Vice President of Engineering at Morgan Olson. While at Morgan Olson, Mark was responsible for establishing their research and development group and leading their electric-powered, walk-in body initiatives. Mark led the efforts in establishing their strategic partnerships for the United States Post Office Next Generation Delivery Vehicle program and the development of their NGDV prototype body proposal. Mark holds a B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Clarkson University and a B.A. degree in Physics from the State University of New York at Geneseo.​

Karen AG Krodel |  Commercial Business Manager, Ford Pro Commercial Vehicles

Karen Krodel is the Ford Pro Commercial Sales Business Manager in the Florida market. She has been with Ford Motor Company for 27 years in many different roles. In her current role, she works with the Ford Pro Commercial Vehicle Center Dealers in the market to grow their commercial business and acumen. In addition to working with the Dealers, she also works with our End-User Customers who utilize our commercial vehicles, our Bailment Pools, and Upfitters. The Commercial piece of our business is expanding under the Ford Pro umbrella to include vehicles, Fleet Management Software, Telematics and FinSimple (our Commercial Ford Credit arm).

This is a very exciting time to be in the commercial business as we continue to grow and expand our support and offerings. I have developed a true passion for our commercial business.

Todd Mouw |  EVP of Sales & Marketing, Roush Clean Tech

Todd Mouw is the executive vice president of ROUSH CleanTech, the clean technology division of Roush Enterprises. Mouw has played a key role in taking the company from start-up to a sustainable and profitable business with about 40,000-unit sales to Fortune 500 fleets, school districts and government fleets. Mouw drives the company’s teams for government affairs, customer success, marketing, and national business development.

A recognized thought leader in the advanced clean transportation industry, he has traveled the nation speaking and has been featured in hundreds of media interviews and bylined articles. He is a recipient of the Green Fleet Sustainability All-Star Award and served as the former president of NTEA’s Green Truck Association. He is currently a Board member for NTEA.

Mouw’s decades of experience in the automotive and high-tech industries also include extensive sales and marketing experience with Ford, GM and Chrysler’s dealer, fleet and consumer communications programs.

He received a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Michigan. Mouw resides in Royal Oak, Michigan. When he’s not in the office, he enjoys golfing and family time at the lake.

Dr. Germana Paterlini |  COO/Co-Founder, Certusoft  

Professional entrepreneur with a proven track record of success in building a company from the ground up, acquiring Fortune 500 customers, and maintaining profitability under economic downturns. Experienced in all aspects of business development, including finance, technology, operations, and marketing. Demonstrated ability to manage people and teams. Academic expertise in computational structural biology and physical chemistry.

Co-founded Certusoft in 1999. Certusoft is an innovator and leading vendor of visualization, configuration and optimization software and services, with headquarter in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Our software applications enable extreme customization at no incremental cost, reduce sales engineering overhead, and increase profitability. Certusoft customers are multinational OEMs that manufacture medium, heavy-duty, and emergency vehicles, and truck bodies. Co-founded FuelMiner in 2012, a startup that used the power of Big Data to maximize vehicle performance and lower fuel consumption.

Experienced in Finance, Technology, and General Management Education:

MBA, Booth School of Business, University of Chicago
Ph.D. Biophysics, Syracuse NY
Academic Research in Computational Biology

Michele Pierog |  Chief Strategy Officer, ParkMyFleet 

Michele Pirerog, who has more than 20 years of experience in the automotive industry, serves as the Chief Strategy Officer for ParkMyFleet, a mobility company that is building the eMobility hubs of the future. She provides vision, expansion and strategic direction as the company leads in the physical and digital managed service of fleets.

Prior to PMF, Michele — in 2018 — joined the team at IAA, one of the largest global total loss auctions and contributed to its growth into the commercial space. Michele played an instrumental role in IAA’s trajectory by fostering introductions and building relationships in the commercial, charity, VPS and government verticals by bringing ideas to the table and championing IAA’s innovations and technological advances.

Earlier in her career, Michele registered dealers to purchase vehicles at the local independent auto auction. It was in this role that Michele realized her love and talent of wholesale automotive and she quickly moved up the ladder to direct a team that grew the business both physically and financially over the course of 17 years. Michele served at the Director of Sales and Marketing and then the Director of National Sales where she increased revenue through relationships with Fleet Management Companies and Finance Companies nationwide.

In Michele’s spare time, she is involved with many charities and associations. Michele sits on several committees for the International Automotive Remarketing Alliance (IARA) and has served as Co-Chair for its Certified Automotive Remarketing program since 2017. Additionally, she is a licensed realtor with Berkshire Hathaway where she sells and invests in property. Michele enjoys hiking, skiing and adventuring through life with her husband and four sons and hosting big gatherings to share her love of cooking and her sons’ love of eating.

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Jim Press |  Former COO, Toyota N.A. Co-President/Vice-Chair, Chrysler, Senior Advisor, Work Truck Solutions

During his 50 years in the automotive industry, Jim Press has served in several top executive roles for automotive manufacturers and dealer groups. As COO of Toyota North America, he was the first non-Japanese board member in Toyota's history. Jim left Toyota in 2007 to join Chrysler as Co-President and Vice-Chair, where he was tasked with revamping Chrysler’s products, perceptions, and dealer bodies when Daimler sold the company to Chrysler LLC. Starting in June of 2009 he served as Deputy CEO of Chrysler, working directly with Sergio Marchionne during Chrysler's transition to Fiat. Since then, Jim has provided guidance for a number of dealership groups, such as the McLarty and RLJ Groups, and served as advisor for The Renault-Nissan Alliance, and currently is Senior Advisor to Hyundai Motor North America.

When Jim was introduced to Work Truck Solutions' in early 2020 he was intrigued by their goal of helping dealers successfully leverage commercial vehicle sales. Since then he has reviewed Work Truck Solutions’ end-to-end bundle of services and realized that finally, someone has made commercial vehicle sales a viable option for all dealers, Jim is now onboard as Work Truck Solutions’ Senior Advisor, to help the entire automotive industry take advantage of this transformative opportunity.

Dania Rich-Spencer |  VP Automotive & Mobility, Escalent

Dania is a Strategic Advisor of Fleet Advisory HubTM, a platform designed to explore the needs, expectations and emotions of commercial and fleet vehicle decision-makers related to forward-looking technologies in the industry. She is committed to helping clients prepare for the next generation of transportation by applying her more than 25 years of experience in the automotive and mobility industry. Dania is a regular contributor on Escalent’s blog and recently co-authored “Establishing Trust in Technology: Helping Brands Build Stronger Bonds with People” and recently co-authored an article featured in Quirk’s magazine “Driven to Believe: A Look at the Three Building Blocks of Trust.”.

Tony Rimas |  Venture Partner, Autotech Ventures

Tony is a Venture Partner at Autotech Ventures with extensive experience in the automotive industry. He is also the CEO of Repair OnDemand, (a Kinderhook Industries portfolio company) which empowers the vehicle-side repair professional with software, intelligence, and access to the proprietary Repair OnDemand marketplace.  Tony has a wide range of experience in many segments of the automotive industry, including retail, financial services, aftermarket, and fleet services. His technical background and education include multiple degrees in Chemistry, Physics, and the NADA Dealer Candidate Academy.

Tony was the co-founder and Managing Partner of FM Capital, where he led and managed many disruptive automotive investments including Autoniq, Frontier Car Group, Vroom, Autopay and Revolution Parts.  Before FM Capital, Tony was the Director of Operations of the Red McCombs Automotive Group where he also helped lead successful investments in both Homenet Automotive (acquired by Cox Automotive) and Clickmotive (acquired by DealerTrack).

He is the current Chairman of NitroFill, a Venture Partner at AutoTech Ventures, and former board member of ProCare Collision (acquired by Classic Collision).  Tony is also Managing Partner of AuctionXM, and an advisor to WarrCloud, Zohr, NuBrakes, and the largest shareholders of both OPSTrax and RumbleOn. Recently, he joined the board of Work Truck Solutions and exited his vehicle reconditioning business (StreamlineRecon) via a merger with SolutionWorks.

Tony resides in Boerne, TX with his wife and two daughters.

Omar B. Sandlin II |  Senior Vice President Sales & Business Development, Cenntro Automotive

Omar is a 40-year Senior Vice President Executive having led manufacturing and engineering functions as well as sales and business development with a focus on market expansion and improved financials.

Leadership and creating a culture for employee engagement and highly collaborative processes and system development are some of Omar’s passions and interests.

Deeply engaged with all Distributor Partners/Dealers in every major city across all 50 states.

Co-Owner of Venco/Venturo Hoists, Cranes and Service Bodies, set up U.S. Distribution as well as Provinces in mainland China.

The Godwin Group, Venco/Venturo, Switch-N-Go, Drive Products, Reading Truck Body are companies Omar led Sales & Marketing with having the title of Vice President.

Currently, Senior Vice President of Sales & Business Development with Electric Vehicle Manufacturer and contributed to the EV OEM segment over the past 6 years.

Omar resides in Wrightsville Beach, NC with his family and enjoys surfing and all things involving the ocean.

Gary Schmidt |  SVP Sales & Marketing, Motiv

Gary joined Motiv in June 2021 as Senior VP of Sales and Marketing. Gary brings 20 years of experience in technology and mobile in operations, sales, marketing, and developing and selling complex global solutions. Before joining Motiv, Gary was Senior VP of OEM Connect Solutions at Zonar, owning all of the OEM and Partner networks worldwide. Gary was instrumental in bringing in multimillion-dollar OEM contracts. Before Zonar, Gary was the Senior VP at Omni where he built and delivered an IoT software solution stack for enterprise customer looking for a SaaS-based workflow offering. Gary began his career at Sprint and quickly moved through the ranks as a thought leader and top sales executive. Gary earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration from Washington State University.

Debbie Shust |  Vice President, Medium Duty Truck Business, Navistar

With over 36 years at Navistar, Debbie brings a wealth of commercial truck experience to her current role as VP, Medium Duty Truck Business. She began her career in engineering and progressed through a variety of roles including pricing, product planning, marketing, order to delivery, and variable margin management. Debbie uses this broad foundation to help develop solutions and services for customers entering the eMobility journey.
 

Gregory Skinner |  Vice President, Strategic Insights and Commercial Vehicle & Fleet Expert, Escalent

Gregory Skinner is a commercial vehicle and fleet expert who spends most of his working hours uncovering the challenges of fleet leaders as they manage daily business priorities, ever-increasing competitive pressures and future forward imperatives. With his unique ability to immerse himself in, and understand, their frenetic day-to-day needs, he continues to help companies navigate the commercial vehicle space to great effect.

Sara Montalat Verdú |  Director of Program Management, Xos

Sara Montalat Verdú is Director of Program Management at Xos where she built and manages the office of program and project management to ensure the Company executes according to its roadmap and milestones. Specifically, she oversees the team of six project and program managers responsible for the Company's vehicle platforms, charging solutions, and new battery system development. In 2021, Sara led the $27M program that, at the time, was one of the largest integrated charging infrastructure projects from a single commercial fleet in the United States. A native of Barcelona, Sara has worked internationally as a manufacturing engineer and program manager for various companies within the automotive and energy industries prior to joining Xos. Sara has a Master's Degree in Management Engineering, Bachelor's Degree in Mechanical Engineering, and two post-graduate programs in Project Management and International Business Operations and Management.

Mark Williams |  Fleet & Commercial Director, Rick Hendrick City Chevrolet

Mark has been in the automobile business his entire life starting with family dealerships dating back to 1922 including multiple brands; GM, Ford, Lincoln, Volkswagen, Peugeot, Mazda, Hyundai, Jaguar, Studebaker, Packard & Nash.

Mark graduated from Northeastern University, Boston, Ma. with a BS degree in Business Administration, alternating semesters with their work / study program, working in multiple dealerships throughout New England to gain further insight outside of the family stores. He later graduated from Northwood University in 1980 with primary academics targeting GM dealership operations.

Mark continued working & operating family stores thru 1990 while assisting in transitions of selling stores & working with new owner operators.

Currently & since 2003, Mark has been the Fleet / Commercial Director for Rick Hendrick City Chevrolet, Charlotte, NC. This store is the first of multiple stores owned by Hendrick Automotive Group, Rick Hendrick. “I’ve always thoroughly enjoyed the automotive business but have had a passion with the commercial segment of dealership operations development & integration”.

Most recently, Mark has served on the GM National Commercial Advisory Board providing support, perspective & input for development of programs at the dealership level.

Scot Wringo |  CEO and Co-Founder, Spiffy

Spiffy’s CEO, Scot Wingo, is a 4-time serial entrepreneur from the Research Triangle Park, NC region. As an industry thought leader in E-commerce, E-service, and the future of mobility, Scot has appeared on CNBC and The Today Show, and has contributed thought leadership to the WSJ, New York Times, Forbes, and many other publications. Scot is co-host of The Jason & Scot Show podcast, and regularly speaks about E-commerce and mobility across the country.

Scot received a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Engineering from the University of South Carolina and a master of Computer Engineering degree from North Carolina State University. He has received numerous awards including Ernst and Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year as well as Businessperson of the Year and CEO of the Year from the Triangle Business Journal.

Andrew Wrobel |  Director, Commercial Vehicle, Fleet Research and Advisory Practice, Escalent

Andrew has forecasted the automotive and commercial vehicle industry for over 10 years, spanning vehicle production and sales, powertrain, technology and emerging trends. Focus on new mobility trends and future growth technology areas in both light vehicle and commercial vehicle allows for a well-rounded view of the vehicle market. Creating and supporting market strategies and technology adoption for the industry and connecting data to give the industry insights to trends and market direction.