Spireon Appoints New Executive Leadership to Accelerate Transformative Growth and Innovation
NOVEMBER 9, 2016 – IRVINE, Calif.–Spireon Inc., a leader in telematics, risk management and location-based Business Intelligence solutions, today announced the appointment of Todd Abbott, Carla Fitzgerald and Rick Gruenhagen to Spireon’s Executive Team, leading sales, marketing and technology functions respectively. Joining recently appointed CEO Kevin Weiss, the new leadership additions will be instrumental in driving Spireon’s transformative next phase of growth.
Todd Abbott joins as Chief Revenue Officer for Spireon, where he will accelerate revenue growth for the Company’s current Vehicle Finance, New Car, Fleet and Asset businesses, as well as open revenue opportunities in new business segments. Carla Fitzgerald joins as Chief Marketing Officer, overseeing all corporate and product marketing functions, as well as Spireon’s brand evolution and entry into new markets. Rick Gruenhagen joins Spireon as Chief Technology Officer, responsible for driving product and platform innovation for the Company.
“Carla, Todd and Rick bring a powerful combination of technology industry perspective and global leadership experience to the Spireon team,” said Kevin Weiss, CEO of Spireon. “Their collective experience will further propel the Company on its journey of explosive growth through industry-leading go-to-market strategies, best-in-class product offerings, and technology innovation in both existing and new business categories.”
Driving Technology Innovation
Spireon is poised for transformative growth with new product offerings and platform innovation led by Rick Gruenhagen. He brings diverse and vast technology expertise to the CTO position based on key leadership roles at PayPal, Amazon and Microsoft. He has a proven track record of building SaaS-based platforms that effectively monetize Big Data and Internet of Things (IoT) solutions. Gruenhagen most recently served as Vice President of Software Engineering at Impinj, where he built the end-to-end technology platform that propelled the company into a successful Initial Public Offering.
“It’s clear that Spireon’s industry leading vehicle telematics solutions are providing compelling value for transportation customers. I’m honored to be selected as Spireon’s CTO to further evolve our technology platform and products, and am excited to be part of this talented team and continue to push the boundaries of connected vehicle innovation,” said Gruenhagen.
Strengthening the Brand
As CMO, Carla Fitzgerald will utilize broad experience in developing market-leading brands, thought-leadership initiatives, and successful demand generation programs to strengthen and extend Spireon’s brand and market reach. Prior to joining Spireon, Fitzgerald drove high-performance marketing teams and strategies at top technology companies in the wireless, enterprise and consumer software arenas, including CA and Quest Software, most recently serving as Chief Marketing Officer at Smith Micro Software.
“I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to build on the tremendous success that Spireon has achieved in the vehicle telematics market to expand into new segments of the Connected Car and IoT industries. Spireon’s product brands are highly trusted, and we intend to maintain our reputation as the ‘gold standard’ and market leader in every market we enter,” said Fitzgerald.
Accelerating Revenue
Todd Abbott will drive accelerated revenue growth in the Vehicle Finance, New Car and Fleet and Asset tracking and intelligence business segments. Abbott has a proven track record of building stellar sales and marketing teams while executing broad-reaching go-to-market strategies for global organizations. With over 30 years of experience in sales, service and marketing roles with notable companies such as IBM, Cisco and Avaya, Abbott is well suited to accelerate Spireon’s transformative growth strategy. Previously, Abbott was the President and CEO of Tely Labs.
“With over three million active subscribers on its connected vehicle platform, Spireon is a proven leader in the vehicle telematics space, with a tremendous opportunity for further growth. I’m excited to join this passionate team to help meet the needs of our customers and continue to build and lead a world-class global sales organization,” said Abbott.
About Spireon
Spireon, Inc. is the industry’s leading open connected vehicle company, providing businesses and consumers with powerful Big Data insights to track, manage and protect their most valuable assets. The award-winning Spireon NSpire open platform delivers rich information from any GPS connected vehicle or asset, converting that information into actionable insight. Headquartered in Irvine, CA, Spireon’s open connected vehicle platform now supports more than 3 million active subscribers across the company’s growing suite of product offerings for new and used car dealers, lenders and financial institutions, rental car agencies, insurers, consumers, and fleet, trailer and asset management companies.