Thursday, June 22, 2017 (Norfolk, VA): Boats Group, the leading global classifieds marketplace and marketing software solutions provider to marine brokers and dealers, announced the appointment of Sam Peterson as the company’s CTO. Prior to joining Boats Group, Peterson served as CTO at Overstock.com and Open English, leading their technology teams.
Peterson drives Boats Group’s technology vision and strategy, overseeing their global team of expert engineers and developers to deliver a world-class shopping experience for consumers and market leading-value for their industry partners.
Peterson is a respected technology leader with deep experience in growing teams from start-up environments to publicly traded companies. Initially hired as Overstock’s first developer, Sam quickly climbed the ranks to CTO, growing the company’s technology team from just 40 employees to over 400. He played a key role in the company’s evolution, building and managing three data centers, improving user experience, optimizing the eCommerce funnel and driving Overstock’s development strategy as the world’s consumers shifted from desktop to mobile.
“Sam’s appointment marks an important step as we continue to take an innovation-first approach to further improve and personalize the boat shopping experience and bring big data insights to the recreational boating industry,” said Sam Fulton, CEO, Boats Group. “His vast expertise in software and product development, as well as extensive knowledge of ecommerce, makes him the ideal technology leader for Boats Group.”
“The creative environment at Boats Group is the perfect setting for technological innovation and I am thrilled to be leading these efforts and growing our technology team at our new headquarters in Miami,” said Sam Peterson, CTO, Boats Group. “The Boats Group technology team has always set a high standard for development and we will continue to build upon this legacy and create new technological advancements that better serve both our industry partners and the millions of boat shoppers that visit our sites each month.”
The announcement is the most recent of a series of updates from Boats Group following its acquisition by Funds advised by Apax Partners, including a company rebrand and the appointment of a new CEO, Sam Fulton. The move marks a new chapter in the company’s future as it focuses on bringing the boating industry to the forefront of modern business.
Operating the world’s largest and most popular recreational marine brands – Boat Trader, YachtWorld, boats.com, CosasDeBarcos and YachtCloser – Boats Group attracts over 65 million unique visitors annually to more than 300,000 unique boat and yacht listings. Boats Group’s digital solutions serve over 5,000 dealers and brokers in more than 143 countries, enabling them to effectively reach in-market consumers, increase dealer and broker inventory turnover, and improve their overall profitability.
