Impel is bracing for growth by adding to its leadership team.

The provider of artificial intelligence sales and marketing automation for the auto industry announced two hires and added three new executive positions in the wake of its recent acquisition of customer engagement platform Outsell.

In a news release, the company said the moves are aimed at “enhancing enterprise scale and positioning the company for continued long-term expansion.”

The new hires are Eric Portman as chief technology officer and Matthew Muilenburg as chief product officer.

Portman, who brings more than 30 years of experience in various industries, most recently served as Cox Automotive’s senior vice president of product and engineering, heading a team of more than 1,200 product and engineering professionals around the world. He was responsible for leading product and technology innovation, including the technical integration of acquired products, as well as developing proprietary data and machine learning-powered applications, process automation and customer products to drive revenue growth and operational efficiencies.

Previously, Portman was partner and managing director in Accenture’s technology practice working with clients such as Disney, the NFL and BellSouth.

“As the category creator and industry standard for enterprise-grade automotive AI, Impel is uniquely positioned to bring cutting-edge AI-enabled process and technology automation to OEMs, dealers, marketplaces and technology providers alike,” Portman said. “In today’s global economy, helping the industry effectively adopt and implement purpose-built AI solutions at scale is a strategic imperative to ensure sustained operational performance and profitability.

“I can’t wait to contribute to Impel’s vision of a unified AI platform that powers all channels and touchpoints throughout the automotive retail ecosystem.”

Muilenburg comes to Impel from Marchex, an AI-powered conversational intelligence provider, which he served as chief market development officer, leading the unification of the company’s systems into a verticalized technology platform. As the Marchex’s senior vice president and head of industry for automotive, he worked with enterprise clients that included General Motors, Ford, Stellantis and Honda Motors of America.

Muilenburg’s resume also includes roles as vice president of global OEM solutions for CDK, VP of social media products for ADP and VP of product solutions for Cobalt Group.

“Impel has an established track record of success in enabling automotive manufacturers and retailers to deliver consistently exceptional experiences across the customer journey, while enhancing operational efficiency and profitability,” he said. “As we bring to market the auto industry’s first end-to-end AI sales and marketing automation platform, the opportunities for growth are limitless.”

Impel also announced it is adding former Outsell president John Clavadetscher to its leadership team following the acquisition, naming him chief commercial officer. Clavadetscher’s experience includes helping found and serving as president of in-store digital retail media platform Cooler Screens Inc., and a 20-year tenure with Cars Commerce, where he was a member of the founding team and scaled the company’s go-to-market operations. He was chief revenue officer when the company went public in 2017.

Chief technology officer Steve Saporta has been shifted to the new position of chief information security officer, which Impel said “reflects the critical importance of global data security and privacy,” noting that the average cost of a data breach is now $4.88 million, according to IBM’s Data Breach Report. Saporta will head development and delivery of global information security, privacy and data protection policies, protocols, processes and systems. He will also oversee the availability and reliability of Impel’s SaaS and AI products.

Another newly created role – senior VP of platform services – will be filled by Andrew Lumsden, who had been chief product officer. He will lead the development of shared services and applications, as well as expanding the company’s ecosystem of technical integrations and client engineering capabilities worldwide. In addition, Lumsden will be responsible for developing enterprise-level product testing and experimentation processes.

“Our recent acquisition of Outsell creates a powerhouse of more than 170 engineering, R&D and product development specialists focused on creating unparalleled AI solutions and seamlessly integrated products – and we’ll continue to scale the organization to drive global growth,” co-founder and CEO Devin Daly said. “Impel is at the forefront of the AI revolution, and these leadership additions will enable us to deliver a single, unified AI platform and solidify our position as the de facto standard for enterprise-grade automotive AI around the world.”