BURLINGTON, Vt. -

Dealer.com announced Monday that it has named a chief product officer. Taking on this position is Kevin Root.

Root will leave his position as senior vice president of product strategy with DriverSide, a Dealer.com partner that provides websites for car owners and customer attraction and retention programs, to join Dealer.com’s executive team.

Prior to working with DriverSide, Root spent nearly 10 years with automotive digital provider The Cobalt Group, where he worked on e-commerce performance improvement and products and strategy.

"Dealer.com is thrilled to welcome Kevin Root to our executive team," said Rick Gibbs, president and chief technology officer of Dealer.com."Building on his experience with DriverSide and The Cobalt Group, and his understanding of the industry from the perspective of a dealer and a consumer, Kevin will add a key competitive advantage to the Dealer.com leadership team that will help continue to guide the company towards growth and improvement."

Root added, "Dealer.com is already an industry innovator and leading product developer, and I’m happy my experience and expertise will add to their team. I look forward to being part of the continued growth of Dealer.com and the prospect of strengthening the existing partnership between Dealer.com and DriverSide."

According to officials, the addition of Root as chief product officer comes at an important time of growth and expansion for Dealer.com. The company’s revenues reached $85 million in 2010, an increase of over 60 percent from 2009 and more than triple the 2008 level.

Dealer.com also recently increased research and development spending by more than 100 percent, expanded industry partnerships, obtained a variety of prestigious awards and accolades, and announced plans to add more than 200 people to its growing work force.