Nowcom - Management

Rufus Hankey
President

Jay Kamdar
Executive Vice President

Robert Lekstrom
Chief Operating Officer

Vimal Kumar
Chief Technology Officer

Rich Hood
Business Manager

Don Rufus Hankey, President

With more than 12 years in the automotive industry, Rufus Hankey has experience in sales, financing and management. Hankey’s previous experience includes sales and financing for Midway Ford as well as being the General sales Manager for the company.

Rufus came to Nowcom in 2000 as its President. Nowcom’s goal was to enable customers to run their business from one software program. DealerCenter was created to allow users to manage inventory, book car values, provide financing and work deals. With Westlake Financial’s focus in sub-prime auto paper, and Knight Management Insurance Service’s focus in insurance products for the auto industry, these partnerships have proven to be a synergistic one.

Today, Nowcom currently has over 3500 dealers that subscribe to its services, and is gaining both market share while at the same time increasing the product offering to its dealer base.

Rufus graduated from University of Southern California in 1995. In addition, Rufus is a member of the board of directors for all the major companies that comprise the Hankey Group of companies. Mr. Hankey was born, raised and currently resides in Los Angeles, CA.

Jay Kamdar, Executive Vice President

Jay Kamdar began his career in the field of ship repairing, building and structural engineering in India, before moving to California to pursue his career in the IT sector.

Jay received his bachelor’s degree in computer science from California State University Long Beach and joined Nowcom Corporation as a software engineer. He has worked his way through the ranks and is currently the Executive Vice President of Nowcom Corporation.

Jay’s vast experience in designing and managing enterprise applications and formulating strategic initiatives to leverage Nowcom's core competency have proven to be of great value to the Hankey Group of companies and our customers. Jay received his Executive MBA degree from the University of Southern California.

Robert Lekstrom, Chief Operating Officer

Robert Lekstrom began his career in the financial services industry over two decades ago, working as a teller for a small community savings bank in Massachusetts. He quickly worked his way through the ranks of the organization serving his last 10 years as Senior Vice President – Chief Information Officer.

He has a broad background with hands on experience in Accounting, Financial Analysis, Risk Management, Information Technology, Human Resources, Commercial Construction Management, Project Management, Strategic Planning, Operations, Marketing and Disaster Recovery Planning. During his career he spoke on various technology and financial operations topics at multiple national and regional trade conferences. Robert also served five years as Chairman of the Zoning Board of Appeals in Webster, Massachusetts and two years on the Central Massachusetts Regional Planning Commission.

His educational background includes business finance and management at Nichols College, Massachusetts School for Financial Studies and the National School of Banking.

As Chief Operating Officer at Nowcom, Robert is responsible for conceptualizing, analyzing and executing strategic business initiatives to increase revenue, streamline operations and maximize sustainable competitive advantages.

Vimal Kumar Nair, Chief Technology Officer

Vimal has over 15 years of application development experience. As Nowcom's Chief Technology Officer (CTO), Vimal is responsible for planning and managing all activities for software development and the IT infrastructure. This includes all new applications development projects, enhancement projects, maintenance projects, and support for an array of business systems as well as staff management. Vimal's technical / problem resolution management skills, coupled with his dedication to customer service have proven to be a true value-added asset to the Nowcom Corporation.

Vimal’s extensive understanding of the latest IT trends provides Nowcom with the foresight for future application development. His daily management and problem solving responsibilities enhance the efficiency for Nowcom and the other Hankey business units.

Vimal holds a Bachelor's Degree of Science in Physics from the University of Bombay as well as an Executive MBA degree from the University of Southern California.

Rich Hood, Business Manager

Rich Hood began his automotive career in 1986, at Crenshaw Motors, a Los Angeles area dealership. Proving his natural abilities and expertise in the industry, Rich was promoted through the ranks to Assistant Manager. In 1996 Mr. Hood accepted a position as Parts & Service Director at Beverly Hills Ford. In June, 1997, Rich was personally recruited to work within the Hankey Investment Group as the Parts Manager at Midway Ford.

In order to better support the hardware and software needs of the affiliate companies, Rich elected to move to the Nowcom Corporation in November of 1999. As Business Manager at Nowcom, Mr. Hood is responsible for all hardware & software purchases, partner agreements, inventory management and primary support for all affiliates