InsideAuto Podcast

Steve Pearson is the CEO at Friendemic, a company that specializes in online reputation tools for car dealers and automotive brands. Before joining Friendemic, Steve spent several years working in the digital space. At McKinsey and Company in Silicon Valley, he consulted with some of the largest players in the industry and focused on process changes to improve customer experience. Steve also spent...

Jack Nerad has spent decades in the automotive industry as a journalist, author, and consultant. His past experience includes serving as Editor at Motor Trend magazine, Editor of Automotive Age , and the Director of Publications at J.D. Power and Associates. He is the host of the America on the Road podcast and most recently authored the book, The GR Factor . Stephen Gabbara is the General Manager...

Sherry Schultz is the Chief Human Resources Officer at Walser Automotive Group. She has a storied career spanning several different industries, with experience as the SVP Chief Human Resources Officer at Advantage Opco LLC - Catalyst Capital and the VP of Talent Acquisition and Chief Diversity Officer at Sears Holdings Corporation. Before that, she was the Global Talent Director at The Goodyear Ti...

Matt Lasher is the Director of Marketing at West Herr Automotive Group and has over 14 years of marketing experience. Currently, West Herr Automotive Group is the largest automotive group in New York with 26 (soon to be 27) locations. Matt manages and facilitates marketing for all of the group's stores and is responsible for overseeing the company website, social, content creation, online reputati...

Melanie Borden is the Vice President of Marketing at Celebrity Motor Car Company, where she develops and implements all facets of the marketing and advertising strategy—and single-handedly built the in-house advertising agency. She has over 14 years of marketing experience and has spent the majority of her career in the automotive tech industry. Melanie has also worked for social media startups an...

Natalie Born is the Founder and Chief Disruptor of Innovation Meets Leadership and the Vice President of Innovation for Territory Global. Before innovation consulting, she was the Senior Vice President of Business Development at an automotive mar-tech firm.  With over 15 years of experience leading product development teams and two approved U.S. patents under her belt, Natalie helps organizations...

Jack R. Nerad is an award-winning writer, editor, and consultant with decades of experience in the automotive industry. He currently writes, edits, and provides editorial consulting services for websites like forbes.com, drivingtoday.com, autobytel.com, and caranddriver.com.  In addition to writing countless articles, features, and road tests, Jack is the author of several books, including The Com...

Colin Carrasquillo is the Digital Marketing Manager at Nielsen Automotive Group, a dealership group with seven locations throughout northern New Jersey. Colin is a self-proclaimed "experimarketer," which refers to an individual that creates, innovates, and appreciates ways for marketers to create new opportunities for businesses. He is also the host of the Experimarketing podcast, where he discuss...

Owen Moon is the CEO and Co-Founder of Fixed Ops Digital, an automotive service solutions company focused on driving more service-focused traffic to a dealership's website while giving service customers a better online experience.  Over the past 20 years, Owen has helped dealerships sell more cars and drive more service revenue with traditional and digital marketing strategies. He's been a speaker...

Laurie Halter is the Owner of Charisma! Communications, a boutique PR agency specializing in the automotive, HR, hospitality, and technology industries. Her unique working relationships have scored her multiple hits in top publications, like Automotive News , Internet Retailing , Consumer Digest , and The Wall Street Journal . Laurie is also the host of Carearing , where she explores work/life bal...

Alex Lind is the eCommerce and Marketing Director at Red McCombs Ford. He got his start in the automotive industry working as a porter at Ken Batchelor Cadillac before joining Red McCombs Ford in 2000. Alex's extensive knowledge about all the different parts of a car dealership has helped shape his progressive ideas and insightful takes on the dealership world. In this episode… There's no doubt ab...

Mike Renaud is the Vice President of Leader in Cars Auto Group. His career experience is broad and includes door-to-door sales, public speaking, and managing highly-complex dealerships and diversified marketing plans for several multi-million dollar campaigns. Most recently, Mike operated four franchise dealerships and negotiated extremely successful buy/sell and partnership agreements. In this ep...

Michelle Denogean is the Chief Marketing Officer of Roadster, where she oversees all marketing and analytical efforts. She has over 15 years of digital marketing experience as a practitioner and thought leader. Before her current role, Michelle held executive-level roles in marketing and product leadership at Edmunds, eHarmony, and Move.com. In this episode… The COVID-19 pandemic has forced busine...

Chase Fraser is a Managing Partner at Fraser McCombs Capital, a VC firm that invests in early- and late-stage automotive technology companies. He also founded MarketView 360, an automotive digital company that was acquired by SCI MarketView in 2008. Chase currently lives in Boulder, Colorado with his wife and two children.  In this episode… Investing in a business comes with many risks. An investo...

Dale Early is the Dealer Principal and Owner of Hyundai of Silsbee in Silsbee, Texas, with over 30 years of automotive experience. Before his current role, he was the General Manager of Gulfgate Dodge Chrysler Jeep in Houston for over four years and the Owner of Deerbrook Forest Chrysler Jeep in Kingwood for over 23 years. Additionally, Dale served on the Board of Directors at NADA for six years a...

David Kain is the President of Kain Automotive, which provides expert training to dealers in many aspects of the automotive business. He is also an active speaker and has been featured at a number of automotive industry conferences across the U.S., Brazil, China, and Australia. But, his work doesn't stop there: David is also the host of Kain & Co. on the CBT Automotive Network and writes articles...

Derek West is the Advertising and Internet Director at Autobahn Motorcar Group, a well-known dealership that features leading brands like BMW, Land Rover, Jaguar, Porsche, Volvo, and Volkswagen. He started working in the car business while studying advertising and public relations and has since worked with Autobahn for 19 years. At Autobahn, Derek uses data-driven marketing to bring buyers from th...

Derek DeBoer is a professional racecar driver and the owner of TC Chevy. He also stars in the TV show, Fastlife, alongside his wife, Brooke, who is the creator of Fastlife and a certified life coach. Together, they have three daughters and are passionate about everything they do–especially when racing is involved. In this episode… Have you ever asked yourself what you would do with your life if yo...

Marat Pashkevich is the digital business consultant for Porsche Cars North America at Shift Digital, where he partners with over 50 dealers in five different regions and guides them through their digital transformations. He has over 17 years of experience in the luxury automotive and motorsports industry, amassing skills in marketing campaign design, content development, CRM, marketing analysis, s...

Houshyar (Hoosh) Karimabadi is the Senior Director of Marketing and Business Intelligence at MileOne Autogroup—one of the top 150 automotive groups in the U.S. with over 80 dealerships and 27 brands. He has worked in several industries and has extensive experience in building and maintaining strategic partnerships with industry-leading allies. Houshyar specializes in Search Engine Optimization, Me...

Aharon Horwitz is the co-host of the Inside Auto Podcast and the CEO of AutoLeadStar, a company that uses its innovative technology to help car dealerships successfully engage online buyers. Their software automates a dealership's marketing funnel and provides them with around-the-clock services to drive quality traffic to their websites. AutoLeadStar works with over 30 OEM brands and has been fea...