THE UNOBVIOUS ONES: EV fleet needs go beyond the vehicles

The Unobvious Ones is a monthly look at movers and shakers who fly below the radar in the Canadian auto industry.

KEVY STEPHEN 

PLUGGING CUSTOMERS INTO CHARGING SOLUTIONS 

Automaker executives never had to worry about how or where their customers would refuel their internal-combustion vehicles, but electrification has changed that. At Ford Canada’s head office in Oakville, Ont., Ford Pro Charging Manager Kevy Stephen works with fleet customers on their charging needs. 

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“If you want customers to have a great experience, they need the vehicles plus a charging solution to manage their electric fleet,” he said. Once the vehicles have been purchased from a dealer, Stephen’s team works directly with the customer on the purchase and installation of chargers and software. 

“We work closely with the dealers and they’re our face, but with electrification there are so many players that it becomes complex,” he said, noting that a large station can involve building owners, power companies and local regulations. 

Stephen, 42, earned a degree in marketing in his native Quebec. His first job was selling alarm systems. 

“I wasn’t happy with it, and I went back to school to get an MBA,” he said. “The day I went to apply, the guidance counselor told me about a job opening at Ford. I said I would give it a try, and four meetings later, I was hired as a sales analyst at the Quebec regional office in 2008.” 

Over the years, he took on different jobs in the Quebec and Ontario offices, including district sales manager and customer experience manager, before becoming a fleet sales operation manager. He assumed his current position in 2021 as the automaker launched its electrification strategy.

“We’ve shifted to a path we’ve never touched, and every day is education for me,” he said. “It’s understanding the anxiety customers go through because they’re not familiar with it. We’ve hired the experts, and I’m there to help support the customer and make sure we offer the right solution.” 

LAURA KUTLESA 

ELIMINATING FRICTION IN THE CUSTOMER JOURNEY 

From their first online search, to the handshake in the showroom, shoppers want a seamless experience. At Nissan Canada, that’s the goal for Laura Kutlesa, director of customer experience. 

Working from head office in Mississauga, Ont., she leads a team of 25 people overseeing customer surveys, digital transformation, connected-vehicle services and the dealer experience.

“We want to bring it all under one umbrella, the digital interactions and the physical side, to remove friction in any customer interactions with our brand and our dealers,” Kutlesa said. “The challenge is how fast technology and customer expectations are moving, and our ability to keep up with them.” 

Kutlesa, 43, earned a degree in industrial engineering in her native Venezuela, where she initially worked as a field engineer for an oil company, and then at Sony, evaluating its business functions. 

She moved to Canada in 2008 and settled in the Toronto area where she worked for Kia and then Mazda in aftersales. In 2015, she moved into aftersales at Nissan. 

Two years later, she joined a customer-experience consulting company that worked with automotive clients, “and I got the taste for this consumer world,” she said. With that experience, she returned to Nissan in 2021 as senior manager of customer journey, working under the marketing team. She moved into her current role when it was newly created in November. 

Her team works closely with dealers to refine the customer experience. “There are still a lot of legacy processes, and the digital side has moved faster, and we’re trying to blend the online and offline experiences,” she said. 

“I look at what consumer demands will be in the future and the steps we need to take. My objective is to make customer experience the differentiator between us and our competitors.”