Cox Automotive retail products leader to retire

Cox Automotive leaders this week said Keith Jezek, Retail Solutions Group president, will retire from the Atlanta-based dealership technology company this year.

Jezek will stay on through the end of March to help with the leadership transition, Cox Automotive President Steve Rowley said Thursday in an email to employees and shared with Automotive News.

Amy Mills, senior vice president and chief strategy officer, will lead the retail products group on an interim basis while Cox conducts a search for Jezek’s permanent replacement, Rowley said in the email.

Jezek joined Cox with the 2010 acquisition of inventory management tool vAuto, which Cox said he was involved in launching with founder Dale Pollak. Jezek led a retail products team that included such brands as Autotrader, Kelley Blue Book, Dealer.com and Dealertrack. Rowley said the retail products team under Jezek broke records in 2021, including customer bookings, installations, retention and satisfaction.

“Throughout the years, Keith has identified strong leaders and put key foundational pieces in place that will ensure our success as we head into 2022 and beyond,” Rowley wrote.

Before joining Cox Automotive, Jezek worked for more than two decades as an executive with technology companies, according to his Cox biography. He holds a bachelor’s degree in English and a master of business administration degree in finance, both from the University of Texas at Austin.

Mills joined Cox as assistant marketing manager for its Manheim wholesale auction division in 2001. Before she was promoted to her current role in 2016, with responsibility for strategic initiatives related to company growth and profitability, she worked as Cox’s vice president of global strategy and as vice president of product strategy at Manheim, where she was involved in the creation of mobile tools.

Prior to Cox, Mills worked in advertising and marketing. She has a bachelor’s degree in communications media and marketing from Appalachian State University. She will retain her role as chief strategy officer while also leading the retail products group on an interim basis, Cox said.

“Amy has been instrumental in developing our overall strategy for digital retailing and knows the automotive industry and the retail business as well as anyone,” Rowley wrote.