The Cobalt Group Names Doug Beighle Vice President of Account Services
SEATTLE--Feb. 26, 2001--The Cobalt Group , a leading provider of e-business products and services to the automotive industry, announced today that Doug Beighle has joined the company as vice president of account services.
Beighle is responsible for growing Cobalt's strategic auto manufacturer accounts west of the Mississippi, as well as working with the company's major auto dealer group clients. Beighle reports to Terry Smail, Cobalt's executive vice president of sales and account services.
"We are extremely pleased to welcome Doug to Cobalt's executive team. Doug is a highly-experienced Internet entrepreneur and high-level strategic consultant who will help Cobalt develop deeper partnerships with our major auto manufacturer and dealer group clients," said Smail. "Cobalt has built its business on helping auto manufacturers and dealers capitalize on e-business technology, and Doug's leadership will further the company's efforts to serve as a meaningful, trusted partner to our major clients."
Beighle brings nearly 20 years of proven sales and service experience to Cobalt. Prior to joining Cobalt, Beighle was president, CEO and founder of Bellevue, Wash.-based Request4Bid.com, an e-marketplace for computer hardware. At Request4Bid.com, Beighle built and released a fully functioning e-procurement system for computer hardware and developed strategic partnerships with major purchasing clients including FedEx, Kodak and Ameren. Prior to starting Request4Bid.com, Beighle was president and CEO of Computech Systems Corporation, the largest national independent sales and service company for Hewlett-Packard enterprise computers. Previously, Beighle was vice president of sales at Quebecor Integrated Media. Beighle holds a bachelor's degree in economics from Claremont McKenna College.
About The Cobalt Group
The Cobalt Group(TM) , headquartered in Seattle, is a leading provider of e-business products and services that help automotive dealers and manufacturers effectively manage their businesses online. Cobalt's suite of e-business solutions includes Web services, Web site hosting, e-commerce applications, Internet-based customer relationship management applications, data management, and best practices training and consulting.
Nearly half of the nation's auto dealers use Cobalt's technology, including 8,500 Web services clients, and approximately 9,300 PartsVoice(R) (www.partsvoice.com) clients. Cobalt's e-business products and services are endorsed by 15 automotive manufacturers and more than 50 of the 100 largest dealer groups in the United States. Cobalt is the only e-business provider endorsed by the National Automobile Dealers Association.
Cobalt operates MotorPlace.com(TM) (www.MotorPlace.com), an online business management and industry information resource for auto dealers. At MotorPlace.com, dealers utilize Cobalt tools to manage their Web sites, buy wholesale used vehicles through MotorPlace Auto Exchange, locate and market OEM parts, purchase leads through Pick-or-Pass, and access industry information, news, events, and stock quotes. Cobalt also operates DealerNet(R) (www.dealernet.com), one of the most widely visited consumer automotive information portals on the Web. IntegraLink Corporation, a Cobalt company, is the auto industry's premier provider of automotive data collection and reporting services.
Cobalt has offices in Seattle, Wash.; Portland, Ore.; Detroit, Mich.; Columbus, Ohio; and Austin, Texas. For more information, please visit www.cobaltgroup.com or call 800/909-8244.