Michael has primary oversight over the general strategy and vision of CarLotz, in addition to managing growth and new store openings, Michael works primary with the Company's Executive Committee, comprised of the leaders of Operations, Talent Management, Technology, Finance & Accounting, Marketing, and CarLotz for Business as well as managing growth and new store openings and our leasing business, Orange Grove Fleet Solutions." Starting effectively as a Coach with the other Co-Founders in 2011 with the opening of CarLotz’ first store in Midlothian, VA, Michael has always enjoyed close interactions with CarLotz’ many and diverse guests and teammates and continues to enjoy viewing pictures of happy car buyers driving off in their new rides! Michael has an extensive background in the automotive sector through CarLotz and his previous work as a Mergers & Acquisition investment banker at Harris Williams & Co., where he initially met and worked with Will Boland and ultimately ran the Transportation and Logistics group. Prior to Harris Williams & Co., Michael held positions at Lehman Brothers and PricewaterhouseCoopers. Michael received a BS in Finance from Lehigh University and an MBA from the Harvard Business School. Michael has lived on three continents, but currently resides in Richmond with his wife of almost two decades and three young sons. He enjoys playing ping-pong with his boys, tennis with his wife, and squash with his friends. His first car was a 1986 Nissan Stanza Wagon.
Michael Chapman is a brand builder, with unrelenting ambition and a track record of marketing success. He brings more than two decades of experience as a dynamic marketer and strategic planner. Most recently, Chapman served as the Chief Growth Officer of The Martin Agency (“Martin”), based in Richmond, Virginia, which was recently named Adweek’s U.S. Agency of the Year. Over the years Chapman has worked across a number of categories and brands including UPS, Walmart, DoorDash, Intel, Heinz and Oreo. As part of Martin’s executive leadership team, Chapman oversaw brand strategy across all of Martin’s clients, while also being the lead architect of The Martin Agency’s own brand identity. Prior to Martin, Mr. Chapman served as Senior Planner for McCann, where he led global strategy for UPS, helping establish its positioning as one of the top three shipping and logistics companies in China. Chapman received his undergraduate degree from the University of Virginia, where he also received his MBA from the Darden School of Business.
John Foley leads the retail sales, processing center, dealer inventory and support team operations at CarLotz. John joined the CarLotz team in 2014 and he has helped lead five store openings in four states. John has 20 years of automotive retail leadership experience and enjoys challenging the norms and finding solutions to old “automotive business problems.” John supports the leaders on his teams through thoughtful problem-solving, intentional team building and accountability. John is from Virginia and moved to Richmond from Norfolk with his family in 2017 to prepare for the Company’s expanded growth. Outside of work John enjoys spending time with his three boys, which often means shuffling between schools, fields and gyms. John is also an active American Red Cross board member in the Virginia region.
Polak brings decades of business development, executive leadership, and legal experience from industry leaders such as KAR Global, parent company of ADESA and TradeRev. Polak served as President of TradeRev, a digital platform that facilitates live, dealer-to-dealer vehicle auctions and is a subsidiary of KAR Global. Concurrent to her role as TradeRev President and since 2007, Polak led the legal operations for KAR Global, including providing legal counsel on all strategic initiatives, business, and operational matters, including M&A, capital transactions and international expansion. Polak also serves on several board of directors, including AAA Hoosier Motor Club and 2022 Indy College Football Playoffs, and has been the recipient of awards such as “Woman in Remarketing Honoree”: (Auto Remarketing) and “Woman of Influence Honoree”: (Indianapolis Business Journal).
Liz Sanders leads the Talent Management team and oversees recruiting, training, facilities & legal operations at CarLotz. Liz joined the CarLotz team in early 2016 focusing on talent acquisition and has helped build recruiting, performance management and training best practices. Liz is passionate about working with the CarLotz team to create exceptional guest and teammate experiences. Liz earned her BBA from James Madison University and lives in Richmond with her husband and two children.
A veteran senior finance professional with close to three decades of public and private company experience, Mr. Stolz brings extensive retail industry expertise to the role and most recently served as the Chief Financial Officer of Chicago-based Portillo’s Hot Dogs. Previously, Stoltz held roles with Fortune 500 companies Dollar General and Food Lion, as well as senior roles at a number of retail industry public and private companies. During his career, he has been responsible for a wide range of functional areas beyond the traditional finance role including legal, risk management, investor relations, IT, HR, real estate, distribution and loss prevention.
Daniel Valerian has primary oversight over technology strategy, development and operations at CarLotz. Daniel started with CarLotz from the beginning as a technical consultant helping CarLotz to develop a vehicle consignment platform and build a scalable infrastructure for a new business model with no out-of-the-box solutions. Keeping CarLotz on the forefront of new technology, Daniel has had CarLotz in the cloud, utilizing APIs and RPA since inception. Daniel spent the initial years working out of the retail locations and has always put a focus on using a combination of employee input and analytics to continually evolve CarLotz systems. Daniel has an extensive background in technology through his previous work as a Sr. Manager at Accenture in the Global Business Solutions practice developing B2B systems integration platforms, managing outsourced application development, production support teams and ERP Implementations around the globe. Daniel received a BS in Mechanical Engineering and a BA in Science Writing from Lehigh University, where met Michael Bor. Daniel has lived worked and lived all over the world and currently resides in Richmond with his wife and newborn son. He enjoys surfing, playing golf, tinkering with any type of technology.
