Autura Welcomes New Leadership Team Members, Strengthening Its Commitment to Operational Excellence and Customer Success

Two new hires and two internal promotions bring decades of towing and recovery and customer success experience to Autura's leadership team.

HOUSTON, TX, UNITED STATES, September 2, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Autura, the vertical SaaS company serving towing and recovery, government and public safety, and unclaimed vehicle auction operators, today announced four leadership moves aimed at one goal: closer, more responsive support for the operators, agencies, and unclaimed vehicle sellers and buyers who rely on its software every day. The company has hired Kimberly Barney as Chief Operations Officer, promoted Shelli Hawkins to Chief Towing Ambassador and Jeff Pesnell to Vice President of Enterprise Accounts, and hired Kayla Ann Tadasa as Director of Customer Success.

These leadership shifts are part of Autura’s continued efforts to expand its support infrastructure for tow operators, impound facilities, and government agencies, including the build of a consolidated web-based support center and updated contact channels the company plans to detail in the coming weeks.

“Towing and recovery is a relationship business, and for a long time software companies in this space treated it like anything but. We're building Autura’s team around people who know this industry and people who know how to run support operators can trust. Trust isn't a given here - it's earned, call by call, job by job.”
— Rudy Nieto, CEO, Autura

Kim Barney Joins as Chief Operations Officer

Kim Barney joins Autura as Chief Operations Officer, bringing executive leadership experience across technology, healthcare, and operations. She most recently served as VP of Customer Success and Support at ESO, a public safety software company, where she led teams focused on driving customer outcomes at scale. Before ESO, Kim was Chief Administrative Officer at Wellebe, where she held broad operational responsibility across post-sale functions.

Throughout her career, Kim has built and scaled post-sale organizations, creating the structure, retention strategy, and team development that allowed growing companies to keep promises to customers. As COO, she will focus on Autura’s daily operations: how the company delivers products and services to customers, scales processes, and builds organizational muscle to support continued growth across all lines of business.

“Operators can tell when a software company is serious about support. Hiring someone who's built these teams before says Autura means it.”
— Frank Mecklenburg, Vehicle Management Solutions

Shelli Hawkins Promoted to Chief Towing Ambassador

Shelli Hawkins has been promoted to Chief Towing Ambassador. Shelli has spent more than 15 years as a towing and recovery industry champion, building relationships with operators through customer visits, industry events, social media, and her role as co-host of The Tow Trend Podcast. She is a graduate of Northland International University, a Pragmatic Institute-certified Product Manager, and holds industry certifications from OSHA, WreckMaster, and Crosby.

In her new role, Shelli will serve as the direct link between Autura's product and leadership teams and the operators who use its software every day, making sure customer feedback informs product and service direction.

“Nobody loves this industry the way Shelli does. Now she gets to champion it from the inside.”
— Michael Lampert, New England Truck Center

Jeff Pesnell Promoted to Vice President of Enterprise Accounts

Jeff Pesnell has been promoted to Vice President of Enterprise Accounts. Jeff brings 26 years of experience in the towing and recovery industry, combining deep operational knowledge with expertise in software solutions that support towing operations, law enforcement dispatch, and impound management. In his expanded role, Jeff will focus on delivering strategic support to Autura's largest and most complex customers.

“Jeff understands our operation in an enterprise fashion without us explaining it. That's rare - he's the total package.”
— Tom Tedford, Guardian Fleet Services

Kayla Ann Tadasa Joins as Director of Customer Success

Kayla Ann Tadasa joins Autura as Director of Customer Success after 14 years at Daxko, where she rose from Communications Specialist to Director, Key Account Management, leading teams across customer success, strategic account management, retention, and growth. She was recognized with Daxko's President's Club honor in 2024 and its Customer Success MVP award in 2019.

Kayla's approach starts with understanding how a customer's business works. Then she uses data and direct feedback to find real opportunities to help, whether that means improving retention, increasing adoption, or solving an operational problem. At Autura, Kayla will lead the team responsible for ensuring insights gathered directly from customers actually reach product, support, and operations teams so that feedback from towing and recovery operators can shape what the company builds.

“Kayla Ann learns how a customer's business actually runs, then clears what's in the way. That's the standard we're setting.”
— Kim Barney, Chief Operations Officer, Autura

Investing in Additional Support Channels

Alongside these leadership changes, Autura is consolidating support across its products into a single, more responsive support center, with a new dedicated phone number and support site rolling out in the coming weeks. The company is also expanding its knowledge base, training resources, and thought-leadership content it offers towing and recovery businesses.

About Autura

Autura is a vertical SaaS company building software for the towing and recovery, government and public safety, and unclaimed vehicle auction industries. Autura's software helps operators and agencies manage dispatch, impound, billing, and vehicle disposition, with a growing focus on customer support and industry partnership.

Zach Edmunds
Autura
press@autura.com
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