PAVE, a photo-based automated vehicle inspection platform, has appointed Mike Francis as vice president of sales. Francis, who has spent the majority of his 27-year automotive career in vehicle remarketing, will lead the sales and business development teams for PAVE, specifically targeting companies with large fleets of vehicles that can benefit from PAVE’s unique technology.

“As increasingly more vehicle acquisitions and purchases are completed online, we expect demand for PAVE’s automated inspection platform to continue to grow. Mike will be key to PAVE’s growth in this area given his depth of industry knowledge,” said Brian Steinhauser, co-founder and co-CEO of PAVE.

Prior to joining PAVE, Francis spent six years as vice president of used car sales at Alliance Inspection Management, a company that provides new and used vehicle inspection services throughout North America.

“The growth opportunity for PAVE is exponential and I’m looking forward to bringing my knowledge of remarketing and the vehicle inspection landscape to make an immediate contribution to the team,” said Francis.

Francis began his career with VW Credit, Inc. (VCI), where he spent the majority of his tenure on the used vehicle side of the business, including roles in vehicle remarketing and inspection analytics, as well running CPO sales for the Volkswagen brand. Francis was also responsible for helping to launch the first upstream remarketing channel used by VW Credit.

Francis graduated from Western Michigan University with a degree in accounting. He earned his MBA with a concentration in entrepreneurship from Oakland University.