George Arison co-founded Shift in 2013, when he saw an opportunity to use technology, machine learning, and operational excellence to create a transformative way for how cars are sold built around an exceptional customer experience.

George is passionate about building companies and technology products because they allow him to prove out his strongly held view that impossible things are actually possible. In addition to Shift, George co-founded Taxi Magic (now known as Curb), which invented the use of mobile devices for on-demand services. He is an investor and mentor to numerous startups and founders, including Zero, Shipper, Carrot, TravelBank, Eden, Fathom, and Pulsar AI. He has twice been named to Goldman Sachs’ 100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs, and has worked at Google and the Boston Consulting Group (BCG).

Born in Georgia, a republic in the Soviet Union, at the height of Communism, George came to the United States on his own in 1992, fortunate to receive a scholarship to attend a prep school in Maine. Afterwards, he studied political philosophy at Middlebury College. In addition to entrepreneurship, George has a deep interest in politics and policy-making. He has started a think tank and ran a political campaign in his native Georgia, and authored a book about Georgia’s democratic transition. George lives in Palo Alto with his husband and their children.

Toby Russell co-founded Shift with a passion for building companies that leverage user-centered technology to respond to consumers’ needs. A seasoned startup founder, he co-founded pioneering ride-hailing app Taxi Magic (now known as Curb) in 2007, which invented the use of native mobile applications for on-demand services in one of the first and most popular travel applications in the iPhone ecosystem. As Managing Vice President at Capital One, he led a digital transformation across the company and the industry, including developing new technology to enable retail mobile payments and creating a completely new consumer mobile and desktop banking experience. And during his tenure as Project Leader at the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), he set strategic direction for the world’s leading companies.

In addition to his work in the private sector, Russell has spent time in public service, leading a $12 billion renewable energy and efficiency investment program for the U.S. Department of Energy, one of the largest CleanTech deployment programs in the nation’s history. He also served as the Director of Research on U.S. Senator James Jeffords’ re-election campaign in 2000. Fluent in Russian and Spanish, he holds a Doctorate in International Relations from the University of Oxford, as well as a BA in Political Science, Russian and Economics from Middlebury College. He is the proud father of two girls and enjoys surfing in California, where he lives.

Cindy Hanford is the Chief Financial Officer and has been with Shift since 2019. She brings a strong background of finance leadership in both automotive and major-retail-brand companies. Previous to Shift, she was a Regional Controller at Lithia Auto Group and held a variety of senior finance and operations positions at Nike. She has also served as Director of Business Transformation at The Thornhill Companies, a vertically-integrated central coast wine company. She holds a Bachelor’s of Arts in Accounting from the University of Washington — Michael G. Foster School of Business.

Sean Foy is the Chief Operating Officer and has been at Shift since 2018. He brings to Shift a unique set of retail operations skills honed through experiences at some of the largest companies in the world, as well a keen understanding of how technology can be leveraged in operations. Prior to joining Shift, he held senior positions at Amazon, where he oversaw the operations for Kindle, Fire, Echo and Amazon Devices at Amazon Lab126. He also served as Head of Operations for Enjoy Technology, Inc., an operator of mobile retail stores across the U.S., U.K. and Canada; and previously he served in positions of increasing responsibility for Rakuten Europe, Amazon, and Grafton Group plc. He holds a Master’s degree in Global Management from the University of Salford.

Karan Gupta is the Senior Vice President of Engineering and has been at Shift since 2020. An engineering and technology leader, he has led several high-profile companies to successful exits. Prior to Shift, Gupta served as Senior Director of Engineering at The RealReal, Inc., an online and brick-and-mortar marketplace for authenticated luxury consignment, helping lead the company to go public in 2019. He served as Chief Executive Officer of Mammoth Works Inc. from 2013-2016, culminating in an acquisition by Prysm Inc. where he stayed until 2017. Prior to that he was at Sony PlayStation and also collaborated on a project for NASA. He has a background in AI Robotics with a Master of Science in Computer Science from Texas Tech University and a Bachelor’s of Computer Engineering from Maharshi Dayanand University.

Mark McCollum is the Chief Revenue Officer and has been at Shift since 2020. He brings to Shift deep expertise as a veteran of the auto retail industry. Prior to Shift, he was Market President for AutoNation where he oversaw 22 franchises under 18 rooftops with revenue in excess of $1.5 billion; and previously served as General Manager at Sonic Automotive as well as numerous private-cap auto retailers. He also founded and served as Chief Executive Officer of Automotive IntelliQence, an enterprise software company focused on automotive retail software for dealers. He studied business finance at Texas A&M University and Lon Morris College.

Amanda Bradley has been the Head of Legal and Corporate Secretary at Shift since 2019. Before joining Shift, she served as corporate counsel at O’Melveny & Myers LLP and Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP where she focused on M&A. She holds a JD and MBA from Cornell University, and a Bachelor’s of Arts from Boston College.