1871 names Betsy Ziegler as new CEO
On Tuesday, 1871 ended its search for a new CEO. Starting in April, Betsy Ziegler will take the reins from Howard Tullman, who announced he was stepping down last August. Ziegler joins 1871 with a wealth of local tech experience under her belt. She was most recently the CIO of Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management and an associate dean of MBA programs and students. Prior to Northwestern, she was a partner at McKinsey & Company’s Chicago office, where she led both the firm’s insurance and tech practices. [Chicago Tribune]
Naperthrill: Cars.com acquires two suburban tech companies
On Wednesday, Cars.com announced it has acquired Dealer Inspire and Launch Digital Marketing (LDM), two Naperville-based automotive technology companies. As part of the deal, Dealer Inspire’s sales enablement tools and custom website design platform will be available to Cars.com users. Ditto LDM’s automotive marketing technology. The deal itself is worth $165 million, although that figure could rise by up to $40 million if performance incentives are hit. [Built In Chicago]
West Monroe Partners lands on a Fortune list
West Monroe Partners landed in 28th place on Fortune’s 2018 list of the 50 Best Workplaces For Giving Back. The outlet highlighted the company’s Fischer Fellowship program, which provides employees up to six months off to volunteer for global causes, and also highlighted its policy of providing additional PTO to those who volunteer in their communities. Salesforce took the top spot. Is there anything that company can’t do? [Chicago Inno]
Grubhub and Foursquare join forces
Foursquare’s website and City Guide app users will now be able to order food from over 57,000 Grubhub restaurants thanks to an integration between the two companies. In addition to the tech partnership, the pair also combined their data to find some of the most popular local dishes in cities around the country. In Chicago the champ is cheese curds, with those served by Bangers & Lace the most popular among Foursquare's users. According to the data, cheese curds are 542 percent more popular in the Windy City than in the rest of the country. The more you know. [PR Newswire]
Echo Global Logistics and project44 also join forces
Echo Global Logistics has integrated project44’s tech into its platform. The integration allows Echo to fully automate the end-to-end management of both its Less-than-Truckload and Volume LTL shipments. The two companies plan to work together on future integrations that will bring project44’s technology to additional modes of transportation. [Business Wire]
Not to be outdone, SpotHero and Hertz announce partnership
SpotHero and Hertz have formed a partnership that is sure to keep dads on vacation from losing it over both the cost and availability of parking in unfamiliar cities. An integration with SpotHero will allow users of the rental car company’s app to find, book and pay for parking. In addition to the app partnership, the two companies plan to explore future opportunities in fleet management and connected parking. [Business Wire]
Vibes welcomes new CTO
Brain Garofola has been named CTO of Vibes, where he will be responsible for the continued development of the company’s mobile engagement platform as well as the creation of new enterprise-grade mobile wallet, push notification and messaging solutions. Prior to joining Vibes, Garofola served as VP of engineering at CDK Global, a provider of automotive dealer software and marketing solutions located near Schaumburg. [Business Wire]
