Carsales appoints its first chief product and data officer

Carsales has landed ex-Myer chief digital and data officer Mark Cripsey as its inaugural chief product and data officer.

Mark Cripsey

The company announced the appointment on Tuesday after an “organisation structure realignment” in December saw the company’s former chief information officer Ajay Bhatia elevated to managing director - Australia.

Cripsey, who will lead the company’s product, data and program teams, joins the company following an “extensive global search” for the new leadership role.

He has spent the last nine months advising bluechip organisations on e-commerce and digital strategy as an external advisor at Bain & Company.

Prior to joining Bain & Company, Cripsey spent three years at Myer, including just over two years as chief digital and data officer and a year as chief operating officer.

He has also previously worked at Coles, Tesco, Accenture and Lovisa in various IT and e-commerce leadership roles over his more than 20-year career.

Carsales CEO Cameron McIntyre said he was pleased to welcome Mark to what is a “transformative role for Carsales”.

“Mark’s experience and expertise will support Carsales’ global nature and help to lay the foundations for the company’s long-term success and future growth,” he said.

McIntyre said Cripsey’s “wealth of experience and knowledge will add significant value and capability” to the company’s product, data and program teams.

Cripsey said he was “delighted to be joining Carsales”, a business that “has a clear and authentic purpose with a mandate to scale”.

“Carsales has a global outlook and a strong, clear strategy and long-term commitment to the automotive industry. I’m looking forward to being able to build on the great work the whole Carsales team has done to date,” he said.

“I look forward to working with the data, product and program teams to deliver change at pace.”