Co-founder Marco Schnabl to remain focused on leadership counsel and strategic partnerships
automotiveMastermind (aM), part of IHS Markit and a provider of predictive analytics and marketing automation solutions for dealerships, has promoted Matt Leone from COO to CEO, effective April 1, 2022. In this new structure, aM co-founder and current CEO Marco Schnabl will remain with the organization, focused on providing counsel to the executive leadership team and strategic partnership guidance for IHS Markit’s transportation businesses.
Leone joined aM in April 2020 and has worked closely with Schnabl and the rest of the company’s executive leadership team over the past two years to prepare for the CEO role, transitioning to handling day-to-day operations of the business, with a specific focus on product and product strategy, in preparation for this promotion.
“I am very excited for Matt and the entire automotiveMastermind organization,” said Schnabl. “Matt’s extensive experience scaling Software as a Service companies combined with his passion for creating a high-performing culture make him the perfect leader to take automotiveMastermind to the next level. It’s been extremely rewarding to lead the company for the past 10 years, and I can’t thank our employees and dealer partners enough for helping us build automotiveMastermind into the organization it is today. I look forward to continuing to support the team through the experience and relationships I’ve gained during my career in the automotive industry.”
“I’ve enjoyed working closely with Matt over the past two years, and I am excited about him stepping into the CEO role,” said Edouard Tavernier, executive vice president, Transportation at IHS Markit. “Matt has been instrumental in steering automotiveMastermind through COVID-19 challenges and post-pandemic supply chain disruptions. The business has done really well and is emerging from this period in an even strong position than it was two years ago. Matt and his leadership team have a wonderful foundation to build upon.”
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Leone, working closely with aM’s executive leadership team, played an integral role in the company achieving tremendous growth the past two years – including double digit year-over-year revenue growth in 2020 and 2021 and profitably scaling the organization’s rapid expansion. Leone’s focus on strategic talent expansion included continuing to hire people with deep automotive knowledge and expertise, as well as SaaS, product management and data science experience. Additionally, his leadership of strategic execution of product expansion was a key factor in successfully navigating aM and its dealer partners through COVID-19 and vehicle inventory challenges.
“I am humbled by the opportunity to lead automotiveMastermind as CEO, and I’m thankful to Marco and our leadership team for trusting me to do so,” said Leone. “It’s been an incredible journey these past two years, and I’m proud of how our team has developed creative ways to support dealerships during a very challenging time. I’m eager to keep growing professionally
alongside my colleagues as we continue to make automotiveMastermind the best employer for our team and the best partner for dealerships.”
Prior to joining aM, Leone held several COO roles spanning mid-size private equity backed companies, as well as large public organizations. He holds a Bachelor of Finance from the University of Arizona and currently resides in the New York metro area.