More than13,000 Seattleites have registered for BMW Group’s free-floating premium car sharing service, ReachNow, since its launch one month ago. Along with this news, BMW Group today announced the ReachNow executive team to be based at the company’s North American headquarters in Seattle: Steve Banfield joins as Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Sandra Phillips is named Chief Customer Officer (CCO) and Jean-Francois (Jeff) Ganot serves as Chief Financial Officer (CFO).
“The rapid adoption of ReachNow in Seattle is proof-positive of the demand for a premium car sharing alternative that provides an experience as convenient as owning a car,” noted Marcus Krieg, Head of CarSharing Business Unit, BMW Group. “We are extremely pleased that the City and people of Seattle have been so welcoming of ReachNow and are confident that we will continue to thrive – both here and across North America – under the direction of our new leadership team.”
Over the past four weeks, thousands of Seattle residents have downloaded the ReachNow app and used the industry’s first-of-its-kind, near-instant smartphone-based registration process to take one of the 370 BMW 3 Series, BMW i3 and MINI vehicles out on the road. ReachNow members have driven the equivalent of nearly four trips around the planet.
BMW Group has named Steve Banfield, a 20-year technology industry veteran with a history of building and growing teams in Seattle, to lead ReachNow as CEO. Banfield joins ReachNow from connected car services provider INRIX in Kirkland, Wash. where he served as Chief Marketing Officer. Banfield led INRIX into the smart parking market with the acquisition of ParkMe and oversaw the launch of an on-street parking prediction solution featuring the BMW i3. He has also held senior leadership roles at Sony, Microsoft, Paramount Pictures (Screenlife), Rightside, and RealNetworks, and has an MBA from Harvard Business School.
