Life at OPENLANE: Q&A with JQ Smith, Director, Product Management

JQ started as a Project Manager at TradeRev and made her way to being Director of Product Management at OPENLANE. Learn more about her journey below.

What has your journey at TradeRev and OPENLANE looked like?   

I joined in 2017 as a Project Manager. As TradeRev grew, I saw we were taking a ton of data inside Salesforce but nobody was owning the planning. This is when I made the switch to Product Manager, with the responsibility of mapping out our Salesforce strategy. Later, I focused on post-sale and more familiar with our front-end and user research. The past two and a half years have consisted of us unifying our Salesforce teams and streamlining our processes.  

What is something you are most proud of during your time at TradeRev and OPENLANE?   

How greatly the team I manage has grown, changed and come together in our ways of working. Also, seeing the things we’ve been talking about for years come to fruition and seeing how we’ve positioned ourselves to take on big things in the future.   

What is your favorite aspect of technology?  

The way it increases efficiency and ensures we can do more with our space and time. For customers, I love how technology allows us to lessen their load so that they have space to focus on bigger problems.   

What is your favorite aspect of our culture?   

The sense of team that you get. Everybody has each other’s’ backs. There’s an immense sense of community.   

If you could have dinner with any historical figure, who would it be?   

Louis XIV from France. During his reign, he had a policy of putting money into the arts and sciences in order to position France as a leader in those fields. I really resonate with this way of thinking because his overall mentality was to invest in people now in order to have an impact in the future. You can see echoes of his investments as France is still a leader in arts and culture. I would love to have a conversation with that dude.   

Life at OPENLANE

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