Matt Leone

Chief Executive Officer DriveCentric

Last Reviewed: September 28, 2026

Executive Summary

Matt Leone is Chief Executive Officer of DriveCentric, the St. Louis company that sells a CRM and AI platform to automotive dealerships. He took over day-to-day leadership from its co-founders in May 2025. He came to the job with specific experience in dealership software: he had run automotiveMastermind, the IHS Markit dealership analytics and marketing business, rising from Chief Operating Officer in 2020 to Chief Executive Officer in 2022. Before that, he spent his career in operating roles at SaaS companies. DriveCentric says he has more than 25 years in software leadership.

Career Highlights

• Chief Executive Officer of DriveCentric since 19 May 2025, responsible for day-to-day operations, product strategy and the partner ecosystem.
• At his appointment, DriveCentric reported that its customer base had grown more than fivefold since 2020, to over 2,200 dealerships.
• Chief Executive Officer of automotiveMastermind, then part of IHS Markit, from 1 April 2022, succeeding co-founder Marco Schnabl.
• Joined automotiveMastermind as Chief Operating Officer in April 2020, leading operations, finance and human resources. The company reported double-digit year-over-year revenue growth in 2020 and 2021.
• Earlier Chief Operating Officer of HotSchedules, a SaaS provider of HR services to the hospitality industry.

Professional Journey

Leone studied finance at the University of Arizona. His career was built in operations. automotiveMastermind described it as “several COO roles spanning mid-size private equity backed companies, as well as large public organizations”. The one it named was HotSchedules, a SaaS company providing HR services to the hospitality industry.

He joined automotiveMastermind in April 2020 as Chief Operating Officer, with operations, finance and human resources reporting to him. The company, then part of IHS Markit, sold predictive analytics and marketing automation to car dealers. His start coincided with the pandemic, and the company later credited him with helping it through COVID-19 and the inventory shortages that followed, while growing revenue by double digits in both 2020 and 2021. In February 2022 automotiveMastermind announced that he would succeed co-founder Marco Schnabl as CEO on 1 April 2022. Schnabl moved into an advisory role. Leone said he was “humbled by the opportunity to lead automotiveMastermind as CEO.” DriveCentric later described his time there as partnering with the founder to build a category-defining business.

DriveCentric, headquartered in St. Louis, makes a dealership CRM focused on customer engagement and AI-driven communication. On 12 May 2025 it announced Leone as Chief Executive Officer, effective 19 May. Co-founders David Fultz, John Kohlmeyer and Philip Fusz stayed on to work on AI products and strategic partnerships. Leone said he had been “a long-time admirer of the pioneering innovations that have made DriveCentric the most advanced CRM in our industry.”

As CEO he has spoken regularly in the trade press. In a July 2026 CBT News interview he argued that retention across sales, service and F&I should be a dealership’s first priority. He also said many dealers run five or six disconnected products without realising it: “The number one thing you have to think about as a dealership is retaining a customer.”

Education

University of Arizona

Bachelor’s degree, Finance