Dealer-FX Founder Gary Kalk To Become Executive Chairman; Bill Lucchini Appointed New CEO

TORONTO, Jan. 7, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Dealer-FX, the leader in digital transformation and customer experience management for automotive retailers and OEMs, today announced that CEO and Founder Gary Kalk will be moving to a new role as Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors at Dealer-FX.  Bill Lucchini was named CEO after having served as COO for the past six months.

"As a business founder and entrepreneur, your role is always evolving, and becoming Chairman is just the latest step on this journey," said Kalk. "Dealer-FX is at a natural inflection point in its growth, where it makes sense to bring in new leadership.  When Bill joined as COO the intent was that he would take over as CEO, and I'm happy to see this transition come at a time when Dealer-FX is really poised to accelerate growth in its next chapter."

"I am excited and honored to be a part of the Dealer-FX team," said Lucchini. "Since joining last year, I've seen first-hand the tremendous benefit that our platform delivers to OEMs and dealers. With the continued support of Gary and HGGC, we are poised to broaden that impact, accelerate growth and increase profitability."

Lucchini, who joined as COO in July 2019, brings over a decade of senior executive experience. Immediately prior to Dealer-FX, he was SVP and General Manager at global cybersecurity firm Sophos, where he led the transformation to a cloud-centric security company with the creation of Sophos Central – the fastest growing business in the company's history. Previous executive roles included COO at OnForce, a marketplace for leading IT talent, and Vice President at Intuit where he led several high growth businesses, including the QuickBooks Mid-Market Division, QuickBase, and the Intuit Partner Platform.

"The Board and I want to thank Gary for the tremendous job he has done in creating Dealer-FX, building it into a leader, and quadrupling revenues over the past 3.5 years," said Steve Young, President and co-founder of HGGC and member of the Board of Directors at Dealer-FX. "Bill brings a wealth of experience and an extraordinary talent for leading high-growth technology businesses, and we could not be more excited to have him step into the CEO role.  We're confident that Bill is the right person to build on the Company's success and bring new energy and ideas as Dealer-FX continues its progress, and we're very happy to have both Gary and Bill on the team as we enter into 2020."

2019 was a strong year for Dealer-FX marked by

• New OEM partnerships including with Kia Motors America, Hyundai Auto Canada Corp, Mitsubishi Motors of North America, Mitsubishi Motor Sales of Caribbean, Nissan Canada and Volkswagen Group Canada
• Service appointments up 64 percent and completed inspections up 153 percent over the year prior
• Numerous new product innovations
• Innovative new collaboration system for dealers and their customers called Dealer Messenger
• Enhanced integrations with DMS vendors for parts information
• Managed marketing services, making ONE Platform a complete marketing and communications solution
• Various telematics integrations and workflow enhancements designed to enhance the user experience
• The addition of new executive talent including CFO George Kypreos and CTO Alan Fong
• The launch of a new regional service model providing local experts to support dealers with the advice and help to drive increased retention and profits

Dealer-FX invites its current and prospective clients to visit them at NADA 2020 in Las Vegas this February to learn more about the exciting enhancements the company has planned for its strategy and platform in 2020.

About Dealer-FX
Dealer-FX is transforming how automotive retailers manage their service operations and how they interact with consumers. Through advanced data integrations and mobile technology, Dealer-FX streamlines processes and communication for automotive service departments while delivering convenience, transparency and trust to consumers. From service scheduling to vehicle write-up, through to delivery, the Dealer-FX ONE Platform helps dealerships increase efficiency, profitability, retention and brand loyalty.

Dealer-FX is the exclusive, or preferred service technology provider for many leading OEMs including FCA, Nissan, Infiniti, Toyota, Lexus, Mitsubishi, Audi, GM, Kia and Hyundai in the US, Canada, and Puerto Rico, and has more than 2,500 dealership clients. Dealer-FX is based in Toronto, ON, and is backed by the strength and resources of HGGC.

About HGGC
HGGC is a leading middle-market private equity firm with $4.3 billion in cumulative capital commitments. Based in Palo Alto, Calif., HGGC is distinguished by its Advantaged Investing approach that enables the firm to source and acquire scalable businesses through partnerships with management teams, founders and sponsors who reinvest alongside HGGC, creating a strong alignment of interests. Over its history, HGGC has completed more than 130 platform investments, add-on acquisitions, recapitalizations and liquidity events with an aggregate transaction value of over $20 billion. More information, including a complete list of current and former portfolio companies is available at www.hggc.com.

SOURCE Dealer-FX

Related Links

https://www.dealer-fx.com