SANTA MONICA, Calif. -

After landing some credit resources just before the end of the year via Westlake Financial, NextCar Holding Co. (NXCR) reinforced its portfolio of human capital on Tuesday.

The fintech and insurtech vehicle subscription platform for dealers, automakers and third-party listing sites, announced seven key management appointments as part of its product and technology launch and acceleration phase.

 NXCR founder and chief executive officer Scott Painter said, “Company building starts with being able to attract and retain the best talent.

“Given the capital intensity of vehicle subscriptions and the sheer potential of the automotive market at this time, we have taken the unique approach of recruiting and hiring a world-class public company-ready executive team right at the onset,” Painter continued in a news release.

“These senior leadership hires are about creating the IP and putting in place the systems that result in high quality, reliable and profitable revenue that will become the foundation for scaling subscriptions for our partners and clients,” he went on to say.

NXCR’s key leadership appointments include:

Jim Nguyen, president and chief operating officer

The company said Nguyen will oversee all operational aspects of NXCR, leading the development and implementation of systems and business processes to scale subscriptions profitability.

Nguyen was a co-founder of TrueCar in 2005 where he held multiple executive and leadership roles across the organization, including chief financial officer, executive vice president of corporate and business development and executive vice president of partner development and marketing.

In 2015, Nguyen was appointed president of ALG, which is now part of J.D. Power.

Prior to TrueCar, Nguyen held senior roles at enterprise software, internet, telecom, consulting and global automotive companies, including Deloitte & Touche and Toyota. 

Kash Sheikh, chief financial officer:

The company said Kash is tasked with finance and accounting functions, securing the necessary upstream capital resources and the systems and processes to support the profitable growth of NXCR’s global subscriptions platform.

NXCR highlighted that Sheikh brings more than two decades of investment and governance experience. He has led a number of M&A transactions and has been involved in several initial public offerings.

Furthermore, Sheikh led two private family investment companies leading direct and indirect investments in tech, venture and private equity.

Earlier in his career, Sheikh led a group responsible for identifying efficiencies within Toyota’s U.S. business operations. He began his career as a CPA at Arthur Andersen.

Joseph Chang, chief revenue officer

In his role as CRO at NXCR, the company indicated Chang is predominantly responsible for controlling revenue quality, ensuring the reliability and predictability of subscription revenue as a payments platform.

Chang has eight years of private equity and 12 years of global investment banking experience, including serving as head of the Beijing office and head of China cross-border M&A at Houlihan Lokey.

NXCR mentioned his Wall Street tenure resulted in more than $25 billion in transactions across numerous industries in M&A, leveraged finance, and corporate finance.

Lucas Donat, chief marketing officer

The company is asking Donat to oversee NXCR’s go-to-market customer acquisition and retention strategies tethered to a performance-based model that delivers advertising dollars strictly in response to driving a cost of good.

Donat has spent his 20-year career building direct-to-consumer and ecommerce brands that rely on direct response and accountable advertising models. He has helped build well-known brands such as 1-800-Dentist, Hotwire, eHarmony, LegalZoom, Bolthouse Farms, and TrueCar, where he also was chief marketing officer.

Matthew Cacciola, chief design officer

NXCR wants Cacciola to build a “world class” user experience and interface that can translate complex back-end technology into simple, intuitive and beautiful front-end applications and user experiences.

Cacciola was previously co-founder and executive vice president of design and user experience at Fair.

Prior to that position, Cacciola spent seven years at TBWA \ Media Arts Lab as the design director for Apple, responsible for global launch campaigns for Apple’s marquee products including the iPhone, iPad and Apple Music . His portfolio of work includes design and creative projects for PepsiCo., Nissan, Harper Collins, Beats, Uber, Microsoft, Xbox, Conagra Foods and Bath & Body Works.

Chris Andrews, chief product and technology officer

According to the company, Andrew is responsible for developing NXCR’s digital experience built on an artificial intelligence foundation that can drive personalization and convenience throughout the vehicle subscription lifecycle. This process is inclusive of vehicle discovery, ordering, fulfillment, maintenance and registration as well as payments.

NXCR noted that Andrews has worked in software and technology for nearly 25 years, including nine years at Microsoft and Skype where he led the launch of the original Skype for iPhone application.

Andrews also has led the development of data products in cybersecurity at TeleSign and fintech at Cyndx. He began his career designing autonomous satellite software at Boeing.

Jorge Munoz, vice president of servicing

In an effort to have its servicing interact with consumers in a fully digital manner and facilitate payments through numerous means, NXCR said Munoz will be responsible for ensuring disciplined asset management and flexible asset return.

Munoz has more than 15 years of experience in strategic finance, contract servicing, portfolio risk management and loss mitigation.

Prior to joining NXCR, Munoz was head of servicing at Fair and previously spent seven years in contract servicing at Santander Consumer USA.

Munoz started his career in the collections department at Ford Motor Credit and later at Nissan Motor Acceptance Corp.

In January Georg Bauer, co-founder of Fair and auto-finance pioneer at Mercedes Benz Financial, BMW Financial and Tesla Financial, joined the NXCR team as co-founder, president and vice chairman of the board.

Now with Bauer and these seven other new executives, NXCR’s launch team is rounded out by a dozen product managers, software developers and data scientists and legal and regulatory compliance experts.

“NXCR is not a typical startup,” Painter said. “My partners and I have a consistent and proven track record of company building. Building a vehicle subscription platform on the heels of building Fair means the results will be faster speed, higher quality and lower cost.”