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ParkWhiz Names Beyond the Rack Founder as Its CEO

March 6, 2018 By Tina Wink

Chicago on-demand parking startup ParkWhiz has a new CEO.

The company announced Tuesday that it has appointed Yona Shtern as its next chief executive. He replaces Aashish Dalal, ParkWhiz’s founder, who will transition to chairman of the company’s board. 

Shtern has been ParkWhiz’s chairman for the past year. He was previously the co-founder and CEO of Beyond the Rack, an e-commerce fashion company based in Montreal. Beyond the Rack raised nearly 100 million in funding since its launch in 2009.

Dalal said he and the ParkWhiz board “spent a great deal of time searching for the right person to help lead ParkWhiz to the next level.” 

“Yona is an experienced leader who believes in what we’ve built, but also recognizes how vast our opportunity is for growth,” Dalal said in a statement.

Dalal is the latest in a string of Chicago tech founders who’ve moved on from their CEO roles. Shiftgig’s Eddie LouSMS Assist’s Michael Rothman, and SpringCM’s Greg Buchholz all stepped aside in the last year to bring on a new chief executive officer.

ParkWhiz, an app that lets people find, book and pay for off-street parking, launched in 2006 and is in more than 190 cities in North America. The company has raised $36 million to date from backers like Baird Capital, Hyde Park Venture Partners, Hyde Park Angels and Jump Capital. ParkWhiz has a competitor in Chicago-based SpotHero, which was founded in 2011 and has raised $57.5 million. 

ParkWhiz’s new CEO comes as the company has filled several other executive roles in the past year. Dan Roarty joined as president and COO, Jeff Judge was named CTO, and Ed Lewis was hired as senior VP of business development.

Originally featured in Chicago Inno.