As a new member of the International Automotive Remarketers Alliance (IARA) board of directors, Steve Solomon, VP of asset remarketing for Santander Consumer USA, is not only excited to engage with like-minded individuals, he is also looking to further grow in an industry that he has been a part of for nearly two decades.

Solomon’s first official introduction to the Alliance was when he participated in the IARA Summer Roundtable in Nashville, Tenn. this August.

“It’s good to meet all of the people that are part of the Alliance. Getting to hear their perspectives on remarketing, the industry, what’s going with their companies, and what are their best practices and how they accomplish their goals,” said Solomon of the Alliance.

Solomon has nearly 20 years of remarketing experience, but his history in the automotive industry began with Chrysler Group (now FCA) in 1989. In his 25 years with Chrysler, the last 15 were with the remarketing group, serving as a regional sales manager.

“That was the beginning of the remarketing part of my career. I sat in every chair at Fiat-Chrysler, from the distribution to the finance piece of pricing the vehicles to eventually running the external operations out in the field,” he said. He rounded out his tenure there as a regional manager.

He left Chrysler in 2013 to join Santander where he has been in the remarketing group ever since. However, it was his time working at Chrysler where his initial ties to the IARA began. During his time with the automaker, he worked closely with Virgil Matczak, who currently serves as the IARA’s Treasurer. It was Matczak who recommended Solomon to IARA’s Executive Director Tony Long.

Long reached out to Solomon to see if he would be interested in representing Santander in the Alliance, which led to Solomon participating at this year’s Summer Roundtable.

“I said ‘I think that would be great.’ I think the alliance is great for consignors because it allows us all to get together and talk about things that are current and going on in the industry where we can make improvements or take best ideas and practices and take them back to our own companies to try to implement something to be a more efficient remarketing group,” said Solomon.

He currently serves as a board member but looks to eventually serve on an Alliance committee.