OUR STORY

Tim brings experience across every angle of Automotive digital marketing to this innovative company. Most recently, Tim served as Sr. Automotive Retail Strategist for Google, where he advised large auto groups, automotive associations and OEMs in the US and Canada on the best ways to leverage the tech giant’s digital advertising solutions to drive dealership profitability. He also regularly delivered keynote addresses and represented Google at countless industry events.

Prior to Google, Tim held roles within the dealership, OEM, and Agency environments. This comprehensive perspective helped Tim see just how ineffective the current landscape has become, and led him to the opportunity to solve it. That’s where Foundation was born.

Tim loves to be outdoors. When he‘s not working, you’ll find him skiing in the winter and spending time on the lake in the summer. He resides in Virginia with his wife Sabrina and dog Sierra.

Ashley oversees Foundation‘s daily operations and supports the organization’s long-term strategy. Ashley joins Foundation after 12 years at Google, where she spearheaded efforts to streamline the tech giant‘s go-to-market strategy for dealers, advised OEMs on designing successful digital advertising programs, and led the release of Google’s first ever Dealer Guidebook.

As a founding member of Google’s Automotive Retail team, she has experience partnering with the largest Automotive Digital Agencies and Auto Groups, and regularly presented to regional associations and dealer audiences. She prides herself on leading with positivity and enthusiasm, building strong, long-lasting, collaborative relationships, and having the courage to tackle large, complex challenges.

Lepczyk is an active advocate for women, in Automotive and beyond. Before joining Foundation Direct, she helped to lead Detroit‘s Women@Google community and was responsible for initiating Google’s support of and participation in the Women In Automotive Conference. She is also Co-Founder of Mama In The Making, an online program that prepares pregnant women for the transition to motherhood and helps organizations support and retain their top female talent. She lives just outside of Detroit, MI with her husband and three children.

Peter is the Chief Client Officer at Foundation Direct, where he guides the company‘s long-term strategy and brings a track record of future proofing a business with the customer’s best interests at heart.

He joins Foundation after 11 years at Google where he most recently led the General Motors US business and prior to that founded the tech giant‘s Automotive Retail practice. During Leto’s tenure, Google partnered closely with OEMs to modernize dealer programs and improve cross-tier digital advertising efforts. Leto also led Google to begin consulting regional ad associations and automotive groups, arming both with valuable insight into regional-specific demand trends to capture missed opportunities to convert more customers to sales.

Peter is from the Motor City, where he still lives with his wife and two daughters. A graduate of the University of Michigan, he started his career in TV Ad Sales with Turner Broadcasting (TBS/TNT) before joining Google in 2008. From 2008-2011 Peter worked in Google’s B2B Vertical supporting large manufacturers like 3M, Newell Rubbermaid, and Dow Chemical where he first learned about co-op marketing models.

Jessie joins Foundation Direct as the SVP of Performance after eight years as Google’s Lead Automotive Retail Strategist.

Jessie Niespolo joins Foundation Direct as the SVP of Performance after eight years as Google’s Lead Automotive Retail Strategist. She will be tasked with broadening Foundation Direct’s already best-in-class arsenal of Digital Solutions and further differentiating the company as the industry’s leading Digital Advertising solution.

Beyond her 15+ year career in automotive marketing, Jessie has a passion for empowering women to reach their full potential and most recently led Google’s efforts to bring the #IamRemarkable initiative to Google’s top clients in The Americas. Outside of Google, Jessie is the Co-Founder of the local Detroit 4Word Chapter, an organization that supports Women in the Workplace.

He has been a project lead on Google’s annual path to purchase since 2013 where he analyzed 100,000s of automotive buyer survey responses, clickstream behaviors and qualitative interviews through the years including creating the 5 Auto Shopping Micro-Moments. Prior to Google he helped launch and produce content for the FOX Sports regional websites and worked with television sales teams on activation.

Michael is the VP of Business and Strategy, where he is responsible for the development and strategy of Foundation Direct’s media and business strategies.

Michael holds a Bachelors in Economics and Master of Science - Business Analytics both from the University of Michigan. Mike also has a passion for data analysis and visualization where he taught on the subject as a professor at Wayne State University teaching Data Science and Leadership to graduate students.

Mike was born and raised in Metro-Detroit where he continues to reside. He has deep blue-collar ties to the auto industry with his mom having worked the assembly line at the Ford Mustang plant and his father worked at the railroad shipping vehicles across the US. When not digging into data Mike enjoys traveling with his wife Cassandra.