Automotive industry veterans join Motormindz team
Automotive industry consultancy Motormindz has announced that industry veterans Steven Beahm and Joe Bakaj will join its team. Beahm joins from Fiat-Chrysler Automobiles (FCA), while Bakaj joins from Ford. Both will work as senior partners.
Beahm worked at FCA for 32 years. In 2009, he was promoted to FCA’s former vice president of sales for all FCA brands. He held the position until 2014, when he began working as FCA’s senior vice president of supply chain management. He also served on the company’s commercial, industrial, and product committees. Additionally, he headed Maserati North America during its move to a new headquarters in Auburn Hills, Michigan. At the time of his departure from FCA, Beahm ran all the company’s passenger car brands: Fiat, Chrysler, and Dodge.
"I am excited to join a team of industry peers that are all focused on innovation and delivering game changing solutions to our industry. I'm humbled to be working with respected leaders like John Felice, Don Johnson and Jim O'Sullivan, just to name a few of the leaders on the Motormindz bench,” Beahm said.
Bakaj, meanwhile, was at Ford Motor Company for 34 years, first in the company’s UK-based product development center, working his way up to positions including vice president of product development at Ford of Europe and vice president of global powertrain engineering.
"I was really attracted to Motormindz’s vision and strategic approach to shaping the future of the industry. I have worked closely with minds such as Jim O'Sullivan, John Felice and Bruce Coventry in the past and have great respect for their knowledge and industry insights. I am very proud to be joining the team,” Bakaj said.
In addition to Bakaj and Beahm, Motormindz in 2019 brought on Mark Potesta, John Marx, Barry Burris, and Mark Kudla – each an industry veteran with varied experience in areas including sales, product strategy, and business case analysis.
"Having such impressive executives join the mission, illustrates how motormindz continues to attract the largest network of automotive and technology subject-matter experts ever assembled," Jeff Van Dongen, Motormindz CEO, said. "These additions will help us continue to elevate, iterate, and innovate our unique model to produce ever more intelligent, viable, and scalable solutions for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), dealers, tiered suppliers and fleets. Bringing this kind of real-world experience, proprietary access, and operational leverage together enables us to rapidly identify and expand new product ecosystems that capitalize on the opportunities brought on by the ever-evolving automotive consumer, by helping our clients learn what they need to know, rather than repackaging what they already know."
Motormindz serves OEMs, technology providers, mobility, and retail organizations operating in the automotive industry. It is headquartered in Troy, Michigan.
