Cox Automotive Inc. taps a newcomer in the automotive industry to oversee the sales and marketing activities in the United States, and takes over for departing executive Raj Sundaram.
Director of Information Technology Sid Nair becomes Chief Sales Officer of Cox Automotive, a newly created position, effective Tuesday. Sundaram, executive vice president of Cox Automotive and chief client success officer, leaves the company to pursue other opportunities. Nair takes over for Sundaram, who will leave as soon as the position of chief sales officer is "in use", according to an internal company note. Nair will report to business president Sandy Schwartz.
Meanwhile, Marianne Johnson, who joined Cox Automotive in June, will take on COO Mark O & # 39; Neil's duties, which, as previously reported, will retire in February. Johnson's title remains Chief Product Officer and the company is currently not looking for a new COO, according to an internal memo. Bryan Landerman, the company's chief technology officer, will report to Johnson.
Nair comes from DXC Technology, an IT services company with $ 24.5 billion in revenue generated after Computer Sciences Corp. and Hewlett Packard Enterprise's Enterprise Services Division merged in April 2017. Nair, previously employed by HPE Enterprise Services for the merger, was responsible for the company's growth with $ 10 billion of DXC Technology sales in the North region – and South America.
The sales leadership of Cox Automotive in the United States will report to Nair. The sales team at NextGear Capital continues to focus on the independent dealer market and reports to Shane O & # 39; Dell, president of the Financial Solutions Group at Cox Automotive.
Nair said in a statement that he looks forward to bringing his experience to Cox.
"Coming from well-performing companies with complex product lines and disparate customer segments, I know what it takes to create a unified sales approach and structure that makes teams even more successful," he said.
In a separate internal memo announcing the appointment of Nair, Schwartz said that Nair "had the best mix of experience and expertise to help us build one strong, uniform sales team." He also has the & # 39; ambidextrous & # 39; mindset that we seek from all leaders – which means that today it can operate excellently and provide strategic guidance that prepares us for the daring future that we are striving for together. "