John Hammer to leave ADESA president role in February

John Hammer, president of wholesale auction business ADESA, plans to exit the company at the beginning of February.

His departure from the top job at the auction giant comes less than nine months after ADESA's U.S. operations were acquired by online used-vehicle retailer Carvana Co.

Hammer will join Spectrum Automotive Holdings Corp., a finance and insurance products provider based in Fairfield, N.J., as its CEO. He succeeds Jim Polley, who founded the company in 1999. Polley will stay on Spectrum's board of directors.

Hammer, 52, will start at Spectrum on Feb. 6, according to a news release.

Polley, in a statement, said he expected Hammer to have "a tremendous impact on the continued progress we are making growing Spectrum's platform."

After Hammer leaves, ADESA will be co-led by Mike Caggiano, current executive vice president of ADESA's U.S. operations, and Jay Bahel, who is now ADESA's senior vice president of business transformation. It was not immediately clear whether Caggiano's and Bahel's appointments were on a permanent or interim basis.

"John's dedication to his team and customers has been instrumental in building ADESA into an industry leader," Carvana CEO Ernie Garcia said in a statement to Automotive News. "He has made a significant contribution to Carvana and I thank him for his friendship and advice during the integration of our two companies."