Tom Folliard and Kyle York Join the Blustream Board of Directors

WORCESTER, MA, DECEMBER 17, 2020 -- Blustream, the leading after-sale customer engagement company, today announced that Tom Folliard, Chairman of CarMax, Inc., and Kyle York, CEO and co-founder of York IE, have joined the Blustream Board of Directors.

 

“We’re extremely excited to welcome both Kyle and Tom to the Blustream Board of Directors,” said Ken Rapp, CEO of Blustream. “Each brings a wealth of knowledge and experience of technology and business, adding tremendous value for Blustream. They will be instrumental in helping Blustream grow its leadership position in after-sale customer engagement for physical products.”

 

Tom Folliard, Chairman of CarMax, Inc., has more than 25 years of experience transforming industries with CarMax. He began as a senior buyer and became director of purchasing in 1994. He was then promoted to vice president of merchandising in 1996 and held several senior executive roles before serving as President and CEO from 2006 to February 2016. He retired in August 2016 and currently serves as the non-executive chair of the Board.

 

“I’m thrilled to be joining the Blustream Board of Directors,” said Folliard. “It’s essential for brands to not lose sight of their customers once they become product owners. Blustream’s platform is opening up a world of opportunities for physical goods companies to connect to their customers at every stage of the product lifecycle.”

 

As the co-founder, CEO and managing partner at York IE, Kyle York brings 20 years of experience in technology and business to the Blustream Board of Directors. Investing and advising in more than 80 startups over the past decade, York is an expert in the global internet, cloud, SaaS, IaaS, and technology markets and trends. Previously, York was the vice president of product strategy for Oracle Cloud Infrastructure and general manager for the Oracle Dyn Global Business Unit. He joined Oracle after nearly a decade at Dyn in executive leadership roles, including chief revenue officer, where he spearheaded growth prior to the Oracle acquisition in 2016.

 

“Blustream is opening up a new revenue stream for brands, allowing them direct access to their customers following the sale,” said York. “Blustream’s innovation lies in its approach to creating experiences that engage customers throughout the product lifecycle. I’m extremely excited to be joining Blustream’s Board as they disrupt how physical goods companies interact with their customers.”

 

York IE was the lead investment firm in Blustream’s recently announced $3 million funding round. Blustream is also part of York IE’s services practice, offering companies direct access to integrated growth advising in market and product strategy, business growth strategy, and marketing and communication services.

 

Folliard and York join Rapp, Bhaskar Panigrahi, a successful technology entrepreneur and investor, and Robert Bean, co-founder and Chief Customer Officer of Blustream on the Blustream Board of Directors.

 

This announcement also comes on the heels of a recent successful webinar from Rapp, partnering with Retail Customer Experience to present, “A New Approach to CX: Using Product Data to Build Strong Relationships.” In the webinar, Rapp explains the historical challenges of customer experience and why live product usage data is the missing link to building a successful after-sale digital customer experience strategy. To watch an on-demand replay of the webinar, click here.

 

To learn more about how Blustream connects physical goods companies with customers through its SaaS-based Product Experience Platform, visit: https://www.blustream.io/

 

Blustream is a SaaS-based customer engagement company that helps physical goods companies build after-sale connections between their products and end-users. By integrating with IoT and real-world-data on tangible products, Blustream’s platform collects aggregate usage, environment and performance analytics for brands and delivers automated education, alerts and purchase recommendations to end-users. Today, CEOs, CMOs, and executives in charge of digital transformation use Blustream’s Platform to create a direct channel with their customers that increases revenue, profit, and delivers better customer satisfaction. Innovate today at: https://www.blustream.io/.