SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 30, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Shift, a leading end-to-end auto ecommerce platform transforming the used car industry with a technology-driven, hassle-free customer experience, today announced the appointment of Mark McCollum as the company’s Chief Revenue Officer. McCollum joins recently-appointed Chief Financial Officer Cindy Hanford in building out the company’s automotive pedigree on the executive team.
This management announcement follows Shift’s June 29 announcement of its plans to pursue a business combination with Insurance Acquisition Corp. (Nasdaq: INSU), a publicly traded special purpose acquisition company, as well as INSU’s announcement on September 24 that the registration statement on Form S-4 (File No. 333-239896) relating to the business combination was declared effective by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. A Special Meeting of INSU’s stockholders is to be held on October 13, 2020 in connection with the business combination.
In this newly created role, McCollum will oversee all sales and marketing initiatives in order to drive accelerated growth, leveraging Shift’s differentiated model and technology platform. McCollum is an industry veteran with extensive automotive retail management and dealership operations experience who will support the technology and innovation effort towards rapid growth.
“Shift has built out a strong management team whose unparalleled technology expertise has provided us an edge in building a differentiated consumer offering. With the addition of Mark, we’re now adding to that mix veteran automotive retail expertise,” said Toby Russell, Shift’s co-founder and co-chief executive. “He possesses a unique understanding of the rapidly evolving auto retail industry along with a strong entrepreneurial spirit and auto-tech experience. It’s a rare combination, and his leadership will be critically valuable as Shift enters the public market and is poised for significant growth.”
McCollum brings over 35 years of deep auto retail experience. He served as market president for AutoNation, the nation’s largest automotive retailer, where he oversaw 22 franchises under 18 rooftops with revenue in excess of $1.5 billion. Most recently as the founder and CEO of Automotive IntelliQence, an enterprise software company focused on automotive retail, he focused on developing software for auto dealers. He has served as general manager at Sonic Automotive and numerous private cap auto retailers. McCollum attended Texas A&M University and Lon Morris College where he studied business finance.
“As someone who has spent his entire career in this industry, I see a unique opportunity at hand for Shift to be transformative in the industry, and believe the company is positioned for tremendous growth,” said McCollum. “This is an exciting time to join Shift, and I look forward to helping the company fulfill its potential and achieve great success.”
About Shift
Shift is a leading end-to-end auto ecommerce platform transforming the used car industry with a technology-driven, hassle-free customer experience. Shift’s mission is to make car purchase and ownership simple — to make buying or selling a used car fun, fair, and accessible to everyone. Shift provides comprehensive, digital solutions throughout the car ownership lifecycle: finding the right car, having a test drive brought to you before buying the car, a seamless digitally-driven purchase transaction including financing and vehicle protection products, an efficient, digital trade-in/sale transaction, and a vision to provide high-value support services during car ownership. For more information please visit www.shift.com.
Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the “safe harbor” provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements may be identified by the use of words such as “anticipate”, “believe”, “could”, “continue”, “expect”, “estimate”, “may”, “plan”, “outlook”, “future” and “project” and other similar expressions that predict or indicate future events or trends or that are not statements of historical matters. These statements, which involve risks and uncertainties, relate to analyses and other information that are based on forecasts of future results and estimates of amounts not yet determinable and may also relate to the Insurance Acquisition Corp.’s and Shift’s future prospects, developments and business strategies. In particular, such forward-looking statements may include statements concerning the timing of the Business Combination; the business plans, objectives, expectations and intentions of the public company once the transaction is complete, and Shift’s estimated and future results of operations, business strategies, competitive position, industry environment and potential growth opportunities. These statements are based on the Insurance Acquisition Corp.’s or Shift’s management’s current expectations and beliefs, as well as a number of assumptions concerning future events.
Such forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other important factors, many of which are outside the Insurance Acquisition Corp.’s or Shift’s control that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results discussed in the forward-looking statements. These risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other important factors include, but are not limited to, (1) the occurrence of any event, change or other circumstances that could give rise to the termination of the Business Combination; (2) the inability to complete the transactions contemplated by the Business Combination due to the failure to obtain approval of the stockholders of Insurance Acquisition Corp. or other conditions to closing in the Business Combination; (3) the ability of the public entity to meet Nasdaq’s listing standards following the Business Combination; (4) the inability to complete the private placement; (5) the risk that the Business Combination disrupts current plans and operations of Shift as a result of the announcement and consummation of the transactions described herein; (6) the ability to recognize the anticipated benefits of the Business Combination, which may be affected by, among other things, competition, the ability of the combined company to grow and manage growth profitably, maintain relationships with suppliers and agents and retain its management and key employees; (7) costs related to the proposed transaction; (8) changes in applicable laws or regulations and delays in obtaining, adverse conditions contained in, or the inability to obtain necessary regulatory approvals required to complete the Business Combination; (9) the possibility that Shift may be adversely affected by other economic, business, regulatory and/or competitive factors; (10) the outcome of any legal proceedings that may be instituted against Insurance Acquisition Corp., Shift or any of their respective directors or officers, following the announcement of the Business Combination; and (11) the failure to realize anticipated pro forma results and underlying assumptions, including with respect to estimated stockholder redemptions and purchase price and other adjustments.
Additional factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in forward-looking statements can be found in Insurance Acquisition Corp.’s most recent annual report on Form 10-K, subsequently filed quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and current reports on Form 8-K, which are available, free of charge, at the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov, and are also be provided in the Registration Statement on Form S-4 and Insurance Acquisition Corp.’s proxy statement/prospectus. New risks and uncertainties arise from time to time, and it is impossible for us to predict these events or how they may affect us. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance upon any forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made, and Insurance Acquisition Corp. and Shift undertake no obligation to update or revise the forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
This communication is not intended to be all-inclusive or to contain all the information that a person may desire in considering an investment in Insurance Acquisition Corp. and is not intended to form the basis of an investment decision in Insurance Acquisition Corp. All subsequent written and oral forward-looking statements concerning Insurance Acquisition Corp. and Shift, the Business Combination or other matters and attributable to Insurance Acquisition Corp. and Shift or any person acting on their behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements above.