LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. -

Black Book has named former RVI Group and GM Financial executive Rene Abdalah as its new senior vice president of business development.

In the newly created position, Abdalah will work with U.S. and Canadian vehicle manufacturers, captive finance companies, lenders and other automotive-related companies to deliver data and analytical services.

Jared Kalfus, Black Book executive vice president, revenue, said the industry continues to focus on data and analytics.

“With the addition of Rene and his broad automotive and automotive finance background, along with his keen understanding of the collateral, risk modeling, and residual forecasting components of our industry, Black Book reaffirms our commitment to our customer base to deliver the most comprehensive data sets, created and powered by the industry’s leading team,” Kalfus said in a news release.

Black Book described Abdalah as possessing a strong understanding of automotive price forecasting and the modeling techniques that Black Book’s data science team uses. 

He was previously vice president of economic risk and residual management for GM Financial, and prior to that, he was with RVI Group for 16 years, leading that company’s passenger vehicle and analytical services business units.

Abdalah said the Black Book team has shown a strong focus on customers and the industry.

“Their advancements in data, analytics and market analysis are best in class and I’m honored to join this iconic institution,” Abdalah said.