Our Story

Don Hankey is Founder of Hankey Group and primary stockholder of all Hankey Investment-controlled entities, including Westlake Financial Services.

Recognizing a critical need in the marketplace for auto purchasers with less than perfect credit, Don Hankey founded Westlake Financial Services in 1978. Through diligent customer service and deployment of innovative technology, Westlake has grown to become a leader in the sub-prime automotive finance market.

Born and raised in Los Angeles, Mr. Hankey completed his BA and post-graduate work at the University of Southern California in 1965. With a keen understanding of finance, Mr. Hankey rose to vice-president of a major investment-banking firm by age 27 that would later become part of UBS Paine Webber. With a family history in the automobile business, Mr. Hankey acquired Midway Ford in 1972. With Mr. Hankey at the helm, business flourished, and during the 1980s several more dealerships, including Toyota of North Hollywood, were added to the Hankey portfolio.

Mr. Hankey believes that focus and execution are the keys to success. “We strive to grow revenue every year by at least 20% and keep our profit as a percentage of revenue above industry averages,” he explains.

With the advent of the Internet, Mr. Hankey has swiftly incorporated technology into every aspect of the HIC companies. “This year, we will be introducing web access to virtually all of Westlake’s proprietary dealer software programs. The key to our success in the future will be processing critical information for our customers faster than the other guys.”

Bret Hankey serves as the Chairman of the Hankey Group and CEO of Midway Rent Car. Bret’s main focus is to continue to grow the companies by 20% year over year and maintain a 30% ROE. Bret Hankey is the Vice Chairman and Executive VP of Westlake Financial Services and is responsible for overseeing the originations of subprime, near-prime and prime automotive retail installment contracts.

Mr. Hankey graduated from the University of Southern California (USC) in 2000 with a B.S. in Business Administration and Finance with an emphasis in Real Estate. He later went on to complete the General Dealership Management program from the National Automobile Dealers Association in 2005 in McLean, VA. Upon his graduation from USC, he joined the Hankey Group and began his career in the automotive industry.

Bret Hankey has more than 14 years of experience working in car dealerships and in the auto finance industry. During his tenure in the car business, he held roles in various positions including Salesperson, Used Car Manager, General Sales Manager and General Manager. From 2007 to Present, Bret Hankey has held multiple positions throughout Westlake Financial including Credit Analyst, Originations Manager, VP Originations, VP of Westlake Financial, Vice Chairman & EVP. He currently serves as the President of the Hankey Group

Bret Hankey’s purpose for joining the Hankey Group is to continue the growth of the companies and to maintain profit margins. He believes this will be accomplished by a continued focus on the culture, people, technology, efficiencies and operating costs.

Jay Kamdar serves as the President of Nowcom Corporation and a member of the board of directors of Nowlake Technologies (parent company of Nowcom and Westlake Financial). Jay’s main focus is help companies maintain an overall business strategy and execution by leveraging technology for the group and help maintain a 20% growth and 30% ROE.

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 IT. Jay has more than 22 years of experience in designing and managing enterprise applications has helped the group maintain a successful track record in creating operating efficiencies, delivering innovating products and successful go to market strategies.

Mr. Kamdar earned an MBA degree from the University of Southern California (USC) and Computer Science Degree from California State University Long Beach.

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.

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.

As Sr. VP of Southeast Asia Operations, Matthew Mee-Lee is responsible for Nowcom’s operations in the Philippines. Matthew focuses on the management and growth of Nowcom Global Services, which provides software engineering, quality assurance, call center, and back office services and support to Nowcom and the Hankey Group of companies from the office in the Ortigas area of Manila, Philippines.

Matthew brings over 17 years of financial software development and business management experience to Nowcom. He has served as VP Software Development for PCLender, a mortgage banking software company, where he led the growth of the development team from just a few engineers to over 25 by forming an offshore development center. As an entrepreneur, he founded and led Techmonde Corporation, which provided offshore employee leasing services with staff specializing in building architecture, mechanical and electrical engineering, accounting, print and web design, and software development.

Matthew is a licensed attorney (Hawaii) and has counseled businesses and individuals on issues ranging from securities regulation, fair debt collection practices, lemon law, software licensing, business formation, intellectual property, and international business. He completed his undergraduate education at University of Oregon and his Juris Doctor at Santa Clara University, and holds the CISSP certification for information security.

As the Chief Software Architect, Ricky leads the software development and quality assurance efforts in Nowcom. Ricky also heads the technology division of Nowcom Global Services in the Philippines.

Having been working in the software industry for over 15 years, Ricky has extensive knowledge and experience in application development and enterprise architecture. Prior to joining Nowcom, Ricky has served as the Chief Technology Officer of Next Media Interactive, the online division of Hong Kong-listed Next Media Group.

Ricky holds a Master Degree of Science in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor as well as an Executive MBA degree from the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Currently serving as the SVP of Sales and Marketing for Nowcom LLC, Jesse Martin leads Nowcom’s DealerCenter business unit. DealerCenter provides industry-leading technology solutions to over 17,000 automotive dealerships nationwide. Web and mobile-based dealer management system (DMS) that converges the dealerships entire operation into one platform. DealerCenter partners with 100’s of industry providers who Jesse works closely with to deliver industry-leading solutions through strategic integration and collaboration.

Jesse joined Nowcom in 2012, bringing over 15 years of experience managing high-performing teams in the technology industry. Jesse has leadership experience in various roles at Fortune 50 and Fortune 500 companies, including Dell Computer and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD). .

During his time with Nowcom LLC, Jesse has brought insightful perspective that has helped Nowcom gain efficiencies and growth in many different areas of our business. He promotes a corporate culture that values delivering relevant and innovative products with an exceptional customer experience. Jesse earned a B.S. in Leadership and Management from Portland State University and an MBA from Pepperdine University.

Vaibhav has over 10 years of financial software development experience. Vaibhav’s strength lies in his ability to combine technical and business skill in providing solutions and strategies to Nowcom. As a Sr. VP of Software Development, Vaibhav is responsible for conceptualization, design and development of enterprise applications for Nowcom and Hankey Group. Vaibhav has extensive understanding of the latest technical trends. He steers his team in the US and Philippines in building innovative solutions that automate business processes of Nowcom and the Hankey Group of companies. He played a crucial role in the development of Dealer Center.

Vaibhav completed his Masters from SUNY in 2004. Prior to joining Nowcom in 2007, Vaibhav built automation softwares for Healthcare. Vaibhav earned his Executive MBA from the University of Southern California.

Andrew Gunawan is Director Information Technology of Nowcom. He joined Nowcom in 2003 as a System Engineer. Andrew has more than 17 years of experience in the technology industry, expertise in computer hardware and IT infrastructure architecture, and management experience.

Before joining Nowcom Andrew worked for Dell Computers, where he focused on building data centers with cutting-edge innovations. Prior to that, he held a variety of engineering and architecture roles with Electronic Digital System (EDS) where he helped to design and to implement the biggest Active Directory Network to date.

Since joining Nowcom, Andrew Gunawan has completed a high-availability, multi-site infrastructure with business continuity for Nowcom DealerCenter, established Nowcom compliance program for Payment Card Industry (PCI DSS) and Experian Ei3PA, achieved server virtualization of Nowcom data center, and built a most effective and efficient architecture with industry-leading standards. Andrew holds a B.S. in Computer Science and has earned multiple IT certifications.

As the Vice President of Product Development for the Nowcom, Don Borgmeyer leads Nowcom’s PMO group and oversees product development for Nowcom’s DealerCenter business unit. DealerCenter is Nowcom’s dealer management system (DMS) designed to help used car dealerships manage their operations more effectively and efficiently.

Don joined Nowcom in 2006 from Carsdirect.com. With over 13 years of experience in the automotive tech sector, he has participated in both the front-end sales and back-end development of some of the most innovative products in the industry. By contributing a sales driven perspective to Nowcom’s product development efforts, Don has been a central figure in helping DealerCenter become the leading DMS product in the market

Don earned his undergraduate degree from San Francisco State University.

Brian brings over 16 years of experience in the automotive tech sector to his current role as Director of Sales Operations for the Nowcom. In addition to playing a leading role in the continued growth of Nowcom’s DealerCenter business unit, Brian also oversees the DealerCenter Support, Onboarding and Compliance Departments.

Prior to joining Nowcom in 2007, Brian spent 7 years with the pioneering auto ecommerce company Carsdirect.com. Beginning as a record-breaking Sales Consultant before advancing to Sales Management and eventually Finance Manager, Brian was instrumental in refining processes related to end-user sales, inventory acquisition and vendor relations. Since joining Nowcom 8 years ago, Brian has played a vital role in growing DealerCenter into the leading DMS product in the market. He has contributed to the continued evolution and development of the DealerCenter platform, as well as Nowcom’s internal CRM system. Drawing on his vast sales and operations experience, Brian has instituted processes which have increased efficiency and driven growth in multiple departments.

Brian earned his Bachelor’s degree in Marketing as a cum-laude graduate of Miami University.

Barry Lane joined Nowcom in 2018 with over 25 years of auto industry experience and a deep knowledge in all facets of the automotive retail and finance space. Bringing successful experience working in both auto dealerships and auto finance companies, Barry possesses expertise in sales leadership, sales training, risk management, marketing analysis and creating strategic partnerships.

Prior to Nowcom, Barry served in multiple leadership roles, including National Training Manager and AVP of Sales. Barry plays an integral role in cultivating profitable, strategic partnerships that make Dealer Center a leading platform in the industry.

Barry has a bachelorʼs degree in Economics from the University of Arizona

David Lee is the Director of Database development at Nowcom. He leads the database development efforts including OLTP, Data Warehouse, Data Analysis and Reporting for Nowcom and the Hankey Group of companies.

David has more than 20 years of experience in the technology industry. Prior to Nowcom, David served as the Chief Technology Officer of DestinationRx, Inc., a leading technology provider for web-based prescription drug comparison. He built a system that helped state agencies manage and administer offering plans for Medicaid and Medicare. Before that, David worked as a software engineer for Meca, a Korean firm specializing in software for ships and cargo. He was instrumental in building LOADCOM, which visualizes ship’s condition and cargo placement while optimizing for stability and safety of the ship. LOADCOM interfaced with level gauging system, cargo control system, hull stress, anti-heeling, reefer container and ship’s central computer.

David holds a B.S. in Computer Science.

Arjun has 18+ years of software engineering and management experience building large scale distributed services and full stack applications. At Nowcom he drives execution and delivery of products and services by building cross group collaboration and increasing engineering velocity. He develops the strategy, owns the roadmaps, defines long-term deliverables and provides technical and architectural leadership for several products. In addition to his deep engineering knowledge, Arjun brings a passion for building high performance teams and data driven decision making.

Prior to Nowcom, Arjun held several leadership positions, including Microsoft and Amazon, where he led product and engineering teams.

Arjun has an MBA from the University of California – Los Angeles and a Master’s degree in Computer Engineering from Syracuse University.

Glen joined Nowcom in 2004 and has over 12 years of experience with automotive and financial services. He has been responsible for directing teams of developers and providing solutions to our business partners.
He personally developed key components of the dealer management system DealerCenter as well as computational tools to optimize deals for dealers and their customers.

Glen obtained two Masters degrees from the University of South Carolina in Chemical Engineering and Computer Engineering with a primary focus in mathematical modeling and optimization.

Rahul Sonthalia joined Nowcom as a Software Engineer in 2005 and is currently serving as the Associate VP of Software Development. During his 12 years with Nowcom, Rahul has utilized his strong technical and analytical skills to build a number of enterprise applications from inception to delivery for Nowcom and the Hankey Group of companies.

Rahul has had the privilege of experiencing diverse cultures through his upbringing in Indonesia, his undergraduate years in India, and during graduate studies in America. These experiences have greatly influenced his management style and have helped to guide his efforts leading and fostering the continued growth of Nowcom’s domestic and international development teams.

During his time at Nowcom, Rahul has served the role of business solutions provider for clients, working to understand their business needs and then delivering efficient and effective products. Rahul has also served as a DevOps Manager, which involved collaboration and communication between the Software Development, Quality Assurance, and IT infrastructure teams to automate the build and software delivery pipeline.

Rahul earned his Bachelor’s Degree from Mumbai University in 2001 and his Masters in Computer Engineering from Syracuse University in 2004.

Phani Tammineni is AVP of Software Development at Nowcom. Phani joined Nowcom in 2009 and has over 9 years of experience in the automotive sector and financial services.

As AVP of Software Development, Phani is responsible for the development of software engineering, defining strategy, product management and operations of Nowcom in the US, Philippines, and India.
At Nowcom, Phani also oversees all aspects of dealer strategy and product development of inventory management and desking tools for both consumers and dealers.

Phani holds undergraduate and master degrees in Computer Science from JNTU University and Georgia State University.

Wayne Wong has been a leader in the software world throughout his career, having been heavily immersed in application development since 2006.

With a long and successful track record of delivering valuable enterprise applications, Wayne is an expert in the complete stack of Microsoft application development technologies. Wayne also remains at the forefront of open source development and has been instrumental in the successful infusion of open source software into Nowcom’s technology portfolio. These advances have helped power Nowcom’s modern flagship products such as DealerCenter and Carzing, as well as the suite of critical enterprise applications that Nowcom provides for its partners within the Hankey Group.

In his early career, Wayne served as a software engineering intern at Nowcom. Later, Wayne joined NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory where he led several major IT initiatives contributing to NASA’s mission of space exploration. Over 7 years, Wayne built solutions, led technical teams, and modernized IT at JPL before returning to Nowcom in 2015. Wayne currently serves as a AVP of Software Development at Nowcom.

Sonal Jobanputra is AVP of Software Development at Nowcom. Sonal has been part of the Nowcom team since 2006.

Over the years, she has played crucial role in multiple strategically important projects for Nowcom and Westlake Financial.

As AVP of Software Development, she collaborates with cross function teams in US and Philippines and is instrumental in development and enhancements of the DealerCenter DMS Product, mainly on the Deal, Buy Here Pay Here and QuickBooks related integrations.

Sonal holds a master’s degree in computer science from University of New Orleans.

Simon is one of founder for SQLAngeles.com which is Los Angeles Korean Tech community group in SQLPass.org.

As a chapter leader, he is a MS SQL community speaker. He did presentation many times in SQL Saturday and in SQLPass chapters.

In the past, he lead a database team and managed hundreds of SQL servers and DWs on VM environment in Gaming industry which hold a world record of concurrent users.

He moved his passion to VISA Inc, the largest credit card provider in the world, he led a database technology to build a strong solution and a secure environment with new strategies and features to maintain thousands of SQL servers.

He join back to Nowcom, as a Director of DevOps. He is leading the DevOps team and DBA team to adapt new technologies and CICD automation.

Ricky Ma is Nowcom’s Director of Software Development. Ricky has more than 20 years of experience with information systems in government and industry.

Prior to starting at Nowcom, Ricky spent over 10 years at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CA, where he last served as Chief of Application Architecture. While at JPL, he led a multi-year effort to successfully revolutionize JPL’s information pipelines and search capabilities. From this, Ricky received national honors and was awarded with NASA’s Exceptional Public Achievement Medal in 2016. Ricky has a Masters of Computer Science from Georgia Institute of Technology, a Masters of Business Administration from the University of Redlands and a Bachelor of Science in Computer Information Systems from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.

Ricky Ma specializes in information technology and has been active in the software development industry, delivering a keynote speech at ElasticCon, sitting on multiple advisory boards, and contributing to various open source projects.

Aditya Bannaravuri joined Nowcom in 2018 as the Director of Project Management. He leads PMO group and overlooks all projects handled at Nowcom.

He has over 12 years of HR Consulting experience in implementing SAP HR and SAP SuccessFactors for global enterprises. He has managed highly motivated teams in large and complex implementations for clients across various industries including Manufacturing, Travel and Hospitality, Life Sciences, Consumer Products etc. As a solution architect and pursuit team leader, he helped Consulting organizations in pre-sales bringing more business and revenue. He played a strategic role in setting up offshore and onshore teams and coached them to be successful.

Aditya has a bachelors degree in Electronic and Communication Engineering from JNTU, India.

Florence Aquino is the Sr. Director of Quality Assurance for Nowcom. She joined Nowcom in 2010.

As a Director of QA for Nowcom, Florence is directly responsible in supervising the Software Development QA and DealerCenter Support Team, both in Nowcom headquarters in Los Angeles and Nowcom Global Services in the Philippines and India.

Before working with Nowcom, Florence worked for leading companies including Control Components Incorporated (CCI), Los Angeles World Airports, and Citibank. Her experience in diverse systems and application platforms led her with wide breadth of knowledge and experience that enabled her effective in Total Quality Management.

Florence holds her B.S. degree in Computer Science from the De La Salle University in Manila, Philippines.

Karthik Kumar has over 20+ years of experience in IT Industry. He has vast experience in Database development, designing, and reporting in various Industry such as Airline, Real Estate, Mortgage and Automobile. Throughout his career, he was instrumental in designing, developing highly scalable databases and managing teams across multiple geographical locations. He joined Nowcom in 2010 and is currently working as a Director of Database Development at Nowcom.

Karthik started his career in India and held key positions and roles in different organizations. For his excellent work, he was placed onsite at the client location in the US, where he managed OLTP Database systems for his Real Estate client, Move Inc. and successfully executed multiple projects for them. In addition, he also managed teams in India and was responsible for overall delivery of projects. At Nowcom, Karthik leads the Database Developments efforts, collaborates closely with other Cross Functional teams, and manages both US and India Database Development Teams.

Karthik has a Master Degree In Information Technology.

Priyanka joined Nowcom in 2007 and has 15 plus years of extensive experience in the Software Quality Assurance/Software Testing Industry.

As the Director of Quality Assurance, Priyanka is responsible for leading and managing multiple offshore teams in India and Philippines to deliver high quality, critical software projects through Manual and Automation Testing. She has vast experience in SDLC in an Agile/Scrum Environment and oversees QA teams across Nowcom to come up with Test Plans and Testing Strategies using different types of Test Methodologies such as Web Services Testing, Functional, Non-Functional, Regression Testing and Automation Testing for both Websites and Mobile apps.

Priyanka has a Bachelors of Electronics Engineering from University of Mumbai, India and a Masters in Telecommunications from SUNY Utica, New York, USA. She is also an ISTQB Certified Tester, Advanced Level (CTAL-FULL) and an active member of the International Society of Female Professionals.

Bashar serves as the Chief Information Security Officer for Nowcom where he is responsible for leading the Hankey Group’s global information security and cyber resiliency strategy.

Bashar leveraged his extensive cybersecurity knowledge and experience in the Defense and Financial Services industry to lead the cybersecurity program development for both Nowcom and the Hankey Group of Companies. Whether working directly with the Boards of Directors and various C-level executives on strategic initiatives or implementing process improvements within the engineering teams and other operational departments, Bashar’s technical and managerial skills have been key to developing our cybersecurity program.

Bashar holds a Master of Science Degree in Aerospace Engineering with a primary focus in Aerodynamics and Aerospace Dynamics from The Royal Institute of Technology of Sweden and an Associate degree in Business Administration from Sodertorn University in Sweden. Bashar’s related certifications include: Certified Information System Security Professional (CISSP), Computer Security Incident Handler (CSIH) and CompTIA Security+.