Boatyard stacks its bench with Fortune 500 tech leader
by Boatyard 1 Sep 2022 18:20 PDT
Boatyard, the first customer experience platform designed for the marine industry, announced today that Joe Lingerfelt, former product leader for YachtWorld and more recently for the Fortune 500 company Expedia, has joined their team as Principal Product Owner.
"We are excited that Joe has brought his years of leadership experience at one of the largest tech companies in the world to Boatyard," said Boatyard founder and president Nathan Heber. "By combining his expertise in product strategy with his in-depth knowledge of the marine industry, Joe will help us continue to drive innovation for our boat dealers, marinas and marine professionals."
Lingerfelt is no stranger to the boating industry, serving in various roles including Product Manager at YachtWorld for over 14 years. During his time at YachtWorld, now a part of Boats Group, he led the product roadmap for brokerage and inventory management tools and trained international gatherings of brokers and dealers on new features and benefits. Yet a return to his roots was not the only thing that called him back to the boating industry; he believes Boatyard will have a transformative impact on the future of boat ownership.
"My background in marine and product management experience make this such an exciting opportunity," said Lingerfelt. "We have the opportunity to really innovate and change the industry, from the way that service teams operate to the actual experience of boat ownership."
Boatyard is an easy-to-use customer communication platform that transforms the boat management experience for both customers and service teams. Boat service teams of all sizes use the scalable software-as-a-service platform to offer digital payment processing, automate and streamline customer communications, and eliminate 12+ hours of administrative work for their teams each week.
At the travel industry leader and Fortune 500 company Expedia, Lingerfelt led product vision and direction for industry leading back-end tools designed for the travel industry. He worked with domestic and international teams to deliver features and products designed in partnership with senior stakeholders and Expedia users around the globe.
Now at Boatyard as Principal Product Owner, Lingerfelt drives the product vision and analyzes market trends, and he sets the course for Boatyard accordingly. He joined Boatyard in June 2022 and has already overseen the launch of their "Last Contact" feature and planned updates to their Pro App for technician and field management.