To further strengthen its leadership team and role in the global automotive marketplace, Manheim announced the creation of a Global Remarketing Management System (Global RMS), a new enterprise software business.

Nick Peluso has been named as Global RMS president and will lead this new venture. In addition, Tim McKinley will join Manheim as senior vice president of sales. Both roles will become effective on April 1.

Additionally, Rich Coutu has been named vice president of commercial sales, effective March 1.

In his new role, Peluso moves from his current role as senior vice president of customer management. This new senior appointment is seen as a measure of the importance which Manheim, is placing on the development of global remarketing solutions for Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM), major commercial consignors and large dealer groups.

RMS is a new digital suite of remarketing management tools, which delivers users with hugely increased efficiency across the entire remarketing process. Provided to its customers as fully supported enterprise software, RMS is built with key modules which drive the main areas of remarketing. These include a data hub, grounding and listing controls, together with sophisticated pricing tools. It also provides white-labeled integrated sales channels with interfaces to all third-party providers and a suite of analytics and reporting tools. In Europe, RMS has already secured six OEM contracts, including two OEMS who are deploying the RMS system, as their core international remarketing platform, in over 25 countries worldwide. 

“In the 27 years I’ve been in this industry, I can honestly say that this is probably the most exciting period that I can remember,” Peluso said. “Global RMS will provide everything a major inventory owner needs to exercise full control and visibility over all aspects of remarketing activity in a single system.  Manheim is uniquely placed in terms of worldwide locations and the scale of the wholesale-to-retail solutions which we are now able to deliver through Global RMS. We will be taking advantage of all of our assets, across Manheim and our sister company AutoTrader Group, in bringing this product to even more countries including the US.”

Peluso will report to John Bailey, Manheim’s president of international operations. His primary focus in the first instance will be to establish the new Global RMS team, based in Atlanta, and fully develop the RMS product for customers in the North American market. Additionally, as part of the Global RMS plan, he will oversee further investment in the existing RMS operation in Europe, as well as looking to new international markets for RMS, including Asia Pacific.

McKinley takes over Manheim’s sales activity from Peluso as the new senior vice president of sales. He served as vice president of field operations for Cox Communications, a Cox Enterprises company. As the new sales leader, McKinley will work closely with Peluso during the hand-over period, before taking full control over Manheim’s commercial and dealer-facing teams and overseeing the strong relationships enjoyed with customers in these sectors. He will also ensure close cooperation with AutoTrader Group to identify any opportunities where greater value can be delivered to key customers through a broader proposition.  McKinley will report to Janet Barnard, Manheim’s Chief Operating Officer.

“This initiative has been a while coming, but the power of today’s technology, coupled to our appetite to fully embrace the opportunities created by the ever-evolving digital space, means we can now get on and deliver world class remarketing solutions, across world markets,” said Sandy Schwartz, president of Manheim and AutoTrader Group. “This is a strategically important investment for Manheim, and who better to head up the Global RMS enterprise than Nick. His experience, market knowledge and his passion for innovation gives us the leadership needed to ensure that Global RMS will take its rightful place at the heart of our major customers remarketing management requirements. I’m also very pleased to be able to welcome Tim into the Manheim team. Like me, he’s spent time within our parent organization, Cox Enterprises, and his proven talent means that our sales teams, as well as our commercial and dealer customers, will be in great hands.”

Most recently, Coutu served as Manheim’s market vice president for the North Central market. In this role, he was responsible for leading the market’s six operating locations while driving business strategy, maximizing market returns and enhancing customer relationships. In Coutu’s position as vice president of commercial sales, he will work closely with a team of experienced account executives to build upon existing relationships with commercial customers across Manheim. Coutu’s extensive industry network, market leadership experience and operations expertise from NextGear Capital will position Manheim to grow its commercial sales and market share. Coutu will report to McKinley.