SALT LAKE CITY -

DrivingSales University — a NADA University partner that offers an online training platform for dealers — has chosen an executive director.

Tapped for the position is Shaun Raines, who the company notes has spent the last 13 years “helping dealers effectively use the Internet to attract, acquire and retain customers.”

Raines will oversee DSU, which educates dealership personnel on Internet processes and digital marketing, among other technologies.

He will also focus on further expansion of DSU’s curriculum development, as well as building out the University’s dealer services center, officials noted.

Commenting on the hire, Jared Hamilton, president and founder of DrivingSales, which ownes and operates DSU, said,“We are excited to welcome Shaun to the team as we expand access to DSU curriculum in dealerships across the country and fill a growing education need.

“Although 90 percent of dealership customers are online, most dealerships have less than 10 percent of their staff trained to handle this massive opportunity. Furthermore, most of the education offered to dealers today comes from vendors with a bias towards selling their products. DSU is completely vendor-agnostic and provides on-demand access to results-based training and the authoritative data, trends and best practices that will enable dealerships to win in the complex digital universe,” he continued.

“Shaun’s depth of dealership process knowledge, true passion for innovation and, most importantly, his track record of integrity that always puts dealers first, are a perfect fit with our mission,” Hamilton pointed out, stressing what makes Raines a worthy candidate for the job.

Highlighting Raines background, he previously spent almost eight years with Reynolds & Reynolds, working with teams that launched and supported products, such as CarPoint.com (Microsoft), CarsDirect’s Connect and Yahoo Autos, official explained.

He served in multiple positions there, including senior manager, trainer and retention/renewal specialist, as well as business development manager for Reynolds Web Solutions.

After leaving Reynolds & Reynolds, he then started his own automotive Internet business — Dealer Advisor LLC — and in June of 2009, he also joined ReachLocal as their director of automotive.

He has presented at Digital Dealer Conferences, OEM dealer events and the DrivingSales Executive Summit, as well as multiple industry conferences.

“I am thrilled to join DrivingSales, and to use my experience and knowledge to help car dealers not only grow their business, but save millions of dollars lost every year on the wrong products and the wrong processes,” said Raines of his new position.

“There is a huge need in our industry for the sort of comprehensive, cross-department online training that DSU offers, as evidenced by the long list of dealers waiting to enroll. I look forward to helping the thousands of dealerships across the country who are looking for a vendor-neutral, interactive educational platform that helps them stay up-to-date on the latest developments in digital media, set up the right processes and structures inside their dealerships and manage their resources for greater profitability,” he continued.

Delving more into what DSU can offer dealers, launched earlier this year, officials explained it offers a fully interactive online training platform with curriculum available 24/7 to subscribing dealership professionals.

DSU offers classes for all dealership personnel, ranging from strategy lessons for dealer principals to "hand-to-hand" combat instruction to improve staff skills.

Explaining the curriculum, officials noted it “pivots around the three key operational pillars of a dealership: 1. marketing — how to increase walk in, phone and Web traffic, 2. process — how to handle and close that traffic, and 3. structure — how to structure the dealership to scale, including hiring, testing, compensation, job responsibility, etc.”