President

I first started in the car industry at the age of 16 when I got a job at my uncle’s car lot detailing cars. A few months later I graduated to salesperson and soon to finance. After finishing high school, I decided I wanted to attend a small community college and study business, so I went looking for a part-time job. A local Lincoln/Subaru dealership had an ad on their website for a part-time parts guy. The only problem was, there was no parts job. While on my way out the door the sales manager noticed me and asked, “Ever sold cars?”

Long story short, I worked there for almost 7 years and went from a salesperson to slowly building an Internet Department as the Internet/BDC Manager. In that time I got married to my lovely wife Katie, took some fantastic vacations all over the world and really enjoyed life.  Before I left, our Internet Department went from last to first in our district and I gained a true passion for the process side of the business.

I left to take a job with a large CRM company as a Field Account Manager. Six months into the job, I was promoted to Subject Matter Expert, and trained dealerships with Ross Barclay.

As I traveled to stores and trained various employees, there was one constant; dealerships lacked a consistent internet process. I eventually did training for a large RV store, and the owner and I became friends. Months after the install, sitting in a hotel room outside Little Rock Arkansas, I picked up the phone and called my RV friend and asked if he would be interested in me answering his leads for him. After a few days of throwing the idea around, we struck a deal and I immediately put in my two weeks. Soon after the deal was struck, Ross Barclay joined me as a business partner.

Starting Upstream has given me the opportunity to share the knowledge I’ve gained over the years with other dealers to help improve their process. Our mission is to create that “Ah-Ha” moment for our clients by showing them a more effective way to handle their Internet Leads