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Equifax Expands Industry-Leading Automotive Services Finance Team with Addition of David Foerster, Paul Gessler and Edie Hirtenstein


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ATLANTA--Feb. 8, 2013: Equifax announced the addition of David Foerster, General Manager, Automotive Services, Paul Gessler, Automotive Subject Matter Expert and Edie Hirtenstein, Senior Director, Product Management to lead its Automotive Services division servicing dealers, lenders and industry service providers.

Foerster brings more than 20 years of experience in executive level sales, operations, business development and marketing to his new position at Equifax. As General Manager of Automotive Services, Foerster will collaborate with all units serving the auto industry to establish its presence within the automotive community. Prior to Equifax, he served as Vice President of Sales and Operations for Automatic Data Processing (ADP), where he increased the company's revenue by $10 million from 2006-2011 while maintaining a client retention rate of 98 percent. His comprehensive business growth initiatives led to the integration of the companies' first sales automation tool, Salesforce.com, improving unit sales and streamlined reporting.

Gessler joins Equifax as the division's Subject Matter Expert, leveraging more than 20 years of proven industry sales and consulting experience.  Formerly with CSC, a global leader in technology enabled business solutions and services, Gessler spent two decades working directly with OEMs, dealers and parts suppliers to deliver value to customers, establish deep relationships with the largest automotive stakeholders and become knowledgeable within every division of the automotive community. At Equifax, he will oversee new business and partnership development as well as its go-to-market implementation.

With more than two decades of product management and product marketing experience, Hirtenstein most recently served as Director, Data Services and Business Development, for instaVIN, a company providing vehicle history reports to the automotive industry. While at instaVIN, she managed the launch of its e-commerce service, established data acquisition relationships with numerous companies and government entities and created or assisted with development of business proposals and managed the relationship with affiliates such as online automotive retailers CycleTrader.com, ClassicCars.com and Copart, and DecodeThis.   Previously she worked as Senior Product Manager for Experian Automotive.

"As the automotive industry continues its trajectory of sustained growth, Equifax's role as a leader in this space is critically important," said Joy Wilder Morgan, Senior Vice President of Equifax Financial Services Group. "We are excited about the addition of Edie, David and Paul to our team, given their expertise in every area within the auto ecosystem.  With their leadership, Equifax will accelerate our ability to provide the auto community with tools, solutions, and insights beyond the traditional credit score."