Team
The Buycentives Team
Dave has 20+ years experience in automotive advertising, marketing (OEM planning, wholesale and retail, e-commerce and Internet marketing) and product development. He was part of the start-up team that launched the Saturn brand and consulted to over 100 dealers during his 13-year tenure there. Dave has extensive ad agency experience at Leo Burnett, J. Walter Thompson and Frog Design. He founded Internet marketer GreatFamilyRentals.com and was CMO for Intrago, a transportation technology startup. Dave holds an M.B.A. in Marketing and Entrepreneurship from the University of Michigan Ross School of Business, and a B.S. degree in Engineering from Michigan State University.
Sean possesses over 20 years of experience in the automotive (OEM strategy, research and forecasting, dealer business consulting) and enterprise IT (business development, partner acquisition, start-up launch) sectors. He’s experienced in driving revenue growth through partnerships, and developing new business strategies from the ground-up. Sean also has IT experience at mainframe migration companies Clerity Solutions, TmaxSoft and Lead Point, Inc. He holds an M.B.A. in Marketing and IT Management from Wayne State University and a B.S. degree in Marketing from Central Michigan University.
Ilya brings over 10 years of hands-on experience as a software architect, integrator, and engineer. He has a strong background in scalable enterprise application design and development using agile methodologies. Ilya has experience in smaller organizations, such as Nextrials, a web-based software solutions provider for the clinical research industry and BazuSports, a race technology services provider for endurance sports events. His large enterprise experience includes Ford Motor Company and DTE Energy. Ilya holds a B.S. in Computer Science from Wayne State University and has also studied mathematics at Lawrence Technological University.
Board of Advisors
Buycentives has engaged a Board of Advisors with senior executives from automakers, advertising/communications, finance and major B2C e-commerce companies.
Joe Kennedy, President and CEO, Pandora Media, Inc.
Joe has extensive B2C e-commerce leadership experience. He joined Pandora in 2004 following a five-year stint at E-LOAN, where he was President and Chief Operating Officer. From 1995 to 1999, Joe was the Vice President of Sales, Service and Marketing for Saturn Corporation, which he grew to over $4 billion in revenue and established as the top brand for customer satisfaction in the auto industry. He joined the initial start-up team at Saturn, four months after its founding, as a marketing manager and held positions of increasing marketing responsibility over the course of his 11-year tenure there. Joe holds an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and a B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from Princeton University.
Jeff Ewald, Founder and CEO, Optimization Group, Inc.
Jeff combines real-world experience in both client and advertising agency organizations with cutting edge analytics to help clients understand how to get the right message to the right person at the right time. After gaining product management/research experience with General Mills and Campbell Soup Company, Jeff’s team at J. Walter Thompson was honored with 3 consecutive EFFIE Awards, the David Ogilvy Award for Marketing Research, and multiple Clio’s. Under his leadership, the Optimization Group has received multiple awards including ESOMAR’s Best Paper and most recently ARF’s Grand Ogilvy (2010). An industry thought leader, Jeff’s articles are frequently published in prestigious research journals, and is in demand as a speaker on managing the innovation process. Jeff holds an M.B.A. from the University of Michigan Ross School of Business and a B.S. degree in Music from Indiana University.
Jeffrey Raab, Vice President OEM Sales & Marketing, Detroit Trading Company
For nearly 12 years, Jeff has been focusing on the opportunity and problems facing OEMs, automotive dealers, lead generators and lead aggregators within in the digital spectrum. His digital career began in 1999 with StoneAge.com, one of the true pioneers in the 3rd party lead space. He is an expert in online lead generation, aggregation, segmentation and treatment. Jeff is currently focused on helping OEMs improve their third party lead performance and continues to accelerate Detroit Trading’s advances in new car lead purchasing through the introduction of Lead Scoring, Predictive Analytics, Dynamic Segmentation and Individual Lead Treatment. In 2004, Jeff founded Search Sandbox, a consultancy that has managed more than $30 million in search-focused advertising spend. Jeff holds two B.S. degrees from the University of Michigan.
Bill Mayer, Managing Director, Augment Capital, LLC
In addition to his current role at Augment Capital, a venture advisory firm, Bill has founded and worked with numerous businesses covering a broad range of industry sectors ranging from startup ventures through Fortune 500 companies. His client engagements have covered a broad range of services including market strategy, portfolio structure, and the IPO process. Bill has managed over $125 million in client assets. His areas of specialty are financial modeling, pricing strategies, the process of private and public equity securitization, management of business assets, and fundraising. Bill has extensive experience in creating financial models, business valuations, capitalization tables, as well as navigating advanced business tax issues and the complex issues surrounding securitization. This allows him to effectively position clients from an investor’s viewpoint to maximize a venture’s ability to receive funding. Bill has held multiple securities broker licenses for over twelve years. Bill holds an M.B.A. from the University of Michigan Ross School of Business.
