Becca Polak has announced her resignation as president of KAR Auction Services' TradeRev unit, effective Oct. 8. TradeRev co-founder Mark Endras will take over the role, reporting to KAR President Peter Kelly, a company spokeswoman confirmed in an email.
In its filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the company said Polak and KAR will "enter into a consulting agreement" through Dec. 31, with Polak getting $500,000 for the work.
TradeRev is a mobile trading platform that allows dealers to list and buy inventory on an app-based mobile device. TradeRev's rollout has weighed on KAR's results. Company executives in February said TradeRev is expected to impact its bottom line until 2021. In August, KAR executives said they had better aligned the sales teams of TradeRev and its ADESA auction business to prevent overlap.
Polak was named president of TradeRev in October 2017 after KAR acquired full interest the company. KAR had acquired 50 percent of TradeRev in 2014.
Before being named president of TradeRev, Polak had been KAR's executive vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary for 10 years. She was also named KAR's chief legal officer and corporate secretary in October 2017. KAR general counsel Chuck Coleman will continue in his role while taking over the responsibilities of corporate secretary, reporting to company CEO Jim Hallett.
In a note to investors, Guggenheim Securities said the management change is expected to be disruptive near-term and could result in TradeRev missing its goal of selling 200,000 units this year. "We are not surprised by the management change in light of slowing volume growth in recent quarters and a strategy change in early August to integrate ADESA and TradeRev's sales teams," Guggenheim analyst Ali Faghri wrote. He added that TradeRev faces growing competition from ACV Auctions, BacklotCars and Manheim Express, among others.
