Zag Taps Former Trilogy Software E-Commerce Innovator Chris Porch as President and COO

SANTA MONICA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Zag (www.zag.com), the online no-haggle car-buying platform that connects ready buyers with certified dealers, today announced that automotive industry e-commerce innovator Chris Porch has joined the company as its president and chief operating officer.

Porch is a hands-on leader who excels at scaling businesses and achieving operational excellence – an expertise that is especially valued as Zag enters a high-growth phase and continues to build its affinity network.

As a student at Stanford University in the late 1980s, Porch was a founder of Trilogy Software, Inc. which, during the 13 years he was with the company, amassed annual revenues of more than $250 million at its peak. In 2000, Porch was appointed by Ford Motor Company to head up a joint venture between Ford and Trilogy that designed and produced FordDirect.com, the first OEM and dealer-backed consumer retail e-commerce portal for direct to consumer vehicle sales.

“Chris Porch adds an exciting new dimension and a storied record of innovation in automotive e-commerce to our leadership team,” said Scott Painter, Zag founder and CEO. “Here’s someone who, more than a decade ago, completely understood the vision and promise that technology could bring to the retail auto marketplace. We’re counting on his leadership and insights to take us to the next level of success.”

“Zag has achieved tremendous success – partnering with respected affinity organizations like USAA, Capital One Auto Finance and many others,” said Porch. “The market has already validated Zag’s main value propositions. Affinity partners are adopting Zag to complement their core businesses and to provide a tremendous service to their customers. Dealers work with Zag because the introductions we make are with more-informed buyers who are ready to purchase today. Customers love the upfront, no-haggle pricing and the unique buying experience they get through the Zag platform and our certified dealers.

“We’ve seen the first attempts to change auto retailing and they didn’t work. Zag has the right mix of business model, value proposition and technology to finally deliver on the promises of the last decade to radically improve car buying and selling.”

Porch graduated from Stanford University in 1990 with a B.S. in Economics. While at Stanford, Porch and his colleagues created and developed the market for configuration and pricing optimization software. That led, in 2000, to a joint venture with Ford that delivered more than $30 million in e-business solutions to the company during its first year. More recently, Porch served as CEO at Austin, Texas-based start-up Between Markets, Inc.

Zag recently published three white papers, the first in an ongoing series, issuing a clarion call to the auto retail industry – saying the process of shopping for a car online has evolved into a model that fails both parties, and calling on the industry to embrace total pricing transparency in new-car sales. Download them for free at http://www.zag.com.

About Zag

Zag (www.zag.com) has created a better way to buy a car. Zag operates a robust auto shopping, research and pricing technology platform that saves buyers money by concentrating group buying power, while providing a better car buying experience by connecting buyers with select dealers that provide upfront discounted pricing and a no-hassle delivery process. Zag provides its platform on a private-label basis to affinity buying groups, such as USAA, 14 AAA clubs, Parenting.com, Overstock.com and Capital One Auto Finance, for – www.capitaloneautobuying.com. These groups give Zag a combined total audience of more than 100 million members/consumers. Zag is fully operational for 65 percent of U.S. households and serves more than 93 percent of in-market car buyers. Zag’s investors include Anthem Venture Partners, Capital One Auto Finance, GRP Partners, Arcturus Capital, Callaway Cars and the Skoll Fund. The company’s approach to car buying and selling is garnering awards – Entretech gave Zag its 2008 Entrepreneurship Award for emerging companies, InfoWorld designated Zag’s platform as one of the 100 most innovative corporate IT solutions for 2006, and Entrepreneur Magazine named Zag in its 2006 “Hot 100” list of the fastest-growing companies. Zag is based in Santa Monica, Calif.

Note to editors: headshot of Chris Porch available on request.