Slate Hires New CEO Peter Faricy. Ex-CEO Chris Barman appointed new role

[E90400K]

Barman was a Legacy Auto Industry Executive though, she was a Vice President at Chrysler. Where are you getting this information that she was selected as CEO because she wasn't previously a CEO somewhere else, I haven't seen that before? If you have an article or video that you can share I would love to see it.

I will say though from all of Slate's Job Postings it's been very clear they value people with extensive experience who can hit the ground running. While all their early hires was seemingly very focused on finding Automotive Executive Veterans. So if Barman was selected as CEO for that reason, that very much doesn't align with the rest of their hiring practices from what I've seen.

I didn't get it from anywhere. It's purely my speculation based on the several interviews I've seen with her and other Slate leadership and based on the company's mission statement.

 

[E90400K]

For us they have an app that has always been a major part of their final vision of slate for a BYO Device (as you mentioned) infotainment instead of the traditional infotainment we see in other vehicles. Also from Slate's side of things they will have an accessory marketplace, Slate University, and The Slate Customizer. Slate will be direct to sale having a solid online marketplace can make or break Slate. But the biggest part which probably matters the most in regards to the CEO is driving digital transformation can help stream line workflows, reduce costs, and improve efficiency.

Driving digital transformation doesn't necessarily mean in regards to the product, it can also relate to the way a business functions. The fact is it's too late to change what the product is and too much money has already been spent on it you can't fundamentally change the design ethos of the entire product at this point.

That's all stuff that is managed by the CEO, not done by the CEO. Merching the SUV kit, suspension kits, wheel options, takes a marketing guy from Amazon? Nah.

Faricy worked at Ford. Okay, doing what exactly? I can't find it. Barman has decades of auto industry experience. Digital in the design and production of automobiles? Please, thats like 40 years ago. The auto industry was "digital" way before Google, Meta, et.al. were even wet dreams.

 

[E90400K]

I haven't watched enough Barman interviews to actually evaluate whether she "doesn't like physical keys", but that's not the impression I've had so far. I thought it was more about not wanting a maximally-retro no-remote-unlock-ever system that can only be opened with a physical key in the slot.

I imagine that anything most RepairPal visits would be capable of would be possible with your own home tools. That's sort of the point. If RepairPal shops can get in, you should be able to as well. If you can't get in at all, RepairPal probably can't either.

If it was that easy to render the truck permanently inaccessible, that would be a serious design flaw and probably cause for a recall and update.

They will do what most EV have, 12V leads that energize the frunk lock to open only if the 12V is completely dead.

And then cooked babies a'la the MachE.

 

[AZFox]

I'm afraid there won't even be a blade key to open the doors if everything goes to hell.

At least one person has been told there will be no metal key:

I asked if the key will have a traditional bladed key and got this response.

"The Slate will have a key fob but no traditional metal key."

Well need to wait and see what you're supposed to do if the fob doesn't work for some reason. It's hard to imagine they haven't thought that through.

Edit: It's quite possible that question's answer was referring to the ignition (Secure Key Ignition System with physical contacts in lieu of RFID) and not the doors and tailgate.

 

[KevinRS]

At least one person has been told there will be no metal key:



Well need to wait and see what you're supposed to do if the fob doesn't work for some reason. It's hard to imagine they haven't thought that through.

Edit: It's quite possible that question's answer was referring to the ignition (Secure Key Ignition System with physical contacts in lieu of RFID) and not the doors and tailgate.

If so why is there a key slot in the door and in the tailgate both on prototypes and on the maker, basically all images of the driver's side and of the tailgate? Pretty sure they were referring to an ignition key.

 

[Mac-Tyson]

That's all stuff that is managed by the CEO, not done by the CEO. Merching the SUV kit, suspension kits, wheel options, takes a marketing guy from Amazon? Nah.

Faricy worked at Ford. Okay, doing what exactly? I can't find it. Barman has decades of auto industry experience. Digital in the design and production of automobiles? Please, thats like 40 years ago. The auto industry was "digital" way before Google, Meta, et.al. were even wet dreams.

You said "I'm not sure where "digital transformation" fits in with Slate's Bring Your Own Device engineering/design ethos. " I then told you that a critical aspect of Slate's Bring Your Own Device Design Ethos is the app. Then gave you aspects of slate business where driving digital transformation is relevant. Before finally saying that the CEO can use his experience to stream line workflows, reduce costs, and improve efficiency by "driving digital transformation".

 

[Mac-Tyson]

If so why is there a key slot in the door and in the tailgate both on prototypes and on the maker, basically all images of the driver's side and of the tailgate? Pretty sure they were referring to an ignition key.

There's an emergency key hidden in the keyfob of my lincoln potentially there's one in Slate's as well

 

[E90400K]

You said "I'm not sure where "digital transformation" fits in with Slate's Bring Your Own Device engineering/design ethos. " I then told you that a critical aspect of Slate's Bring Your Own Device Design Ethos is the app. Then gave you aspects of slate business where driving digital transformation is relevant. Before finally saying that the CEO can use his experience to stream line workflows, reduce costs, and improve efficiency by "driving digital transformation".

And I'm saying its already been done in the automotive industry. The legacy auto manufacturers are considered as not "tech companies". I'll argue the legacy auto manufacturers are tech companies and were tech companies starting in the 1960's.

I'll also add that Slate's idea to build just one single version of their Truck has no need for "digital work flows" to create manufacturing efficiency. Under a discussion I had in the forum regarding the single-color concept, I suggested that Slate should have a diversified color pallet of 5 or so colors. One of the arguments that came back from some here said it would increase manufacturing costs because the factory would have to track the different-colored panels through the manufacturing process. But that's not true, automotive manufacturing lines have been "digitized" decades ago.

So, I'm not sure where a "digital transformation guy" needs to come into Slate to make making the product more efficient. I'd bet Barman knows a shit load more about making cars efficiently than Faricy does.

 

[cadblu]

Mac-Tyson “The fact is some times a car geek being at the helm is not the best person for the Job.”


100%. And fast forward one year, when Slate’s roll off the assembly lines, on time and no surprises on price, we will praise Faricy for his leadership skills. All the “behind the scenes” fuss and over-analyzing the situation will long be forgotten.

 

[dragondroptv]

I'm hoping this a good thing. I think see can concentrate of the manufacturing and cost of vehicle production like all the other car manufactures do. We need a CEO with a better user understanding to design things like Slate University. The current care manufactures have terrible UI design and stuff.

 

[clofan]

I've spent the last 4 hours writing complex sql queries, so I appreciate your AV dragondroptv!

 

[AZFox]

So, I'm not sure where a "digital transformation guy" needs to come into Slate to make making the product more efficient. I'd bet Barman knows a shit load more about making cars efficiently than Faricy does.

I'm pretty sure Faricy is an expert at Staying In His Lane and working with talented people to get the most out of their talent.

Additionally, allowing Barman to narrow her focus to what she is best at adds value because the better the vehicles are the better the company will do.

Here's another video from 9 years ago that may help you catch the drift. He's a pretty good public speaker, btw.

 

[dragondroptv]

I've spent the last 4 hours writing complex sql queries, so I appreciate your AV dragondroptv!

Nice! Welcome to the SQL club.

 

[NowThatsDamp]

rip. Get ready for the bean counters to ruin it.

It was a good run guys.

 

[E90400K]

I'm pretty sure Faricy is an expert at Staying In His Lane and working with talented people to get the most out of their talent.

Additionally, allowing Barman to narrow her focus to what she is best at adds value because the better the vehicles are the better the company will do.

Here's another video from 9 years ago that may help you catch the drift. He's a pretty good public speaker, btw.

Thanks for posting.

I watched his part for just a few minutes since the subject matter was not interesting to me at all and didn't sound like it was going to be or get to automotive industry related. He is well spoken, Barman not so much it seems, but have any of us seen her speak in a similar symposium format?

Background information on Barman indicates she has the unique ability to speak to the "factory floor" and in the same day "turn around and address the Boardroom". I was one of the first to say I did not like her presentation in the "Answer the Questions" video from last month. I know I stated that she did not come across as "very CEO-like". I worked under a VP who was a great speaker too, knew all the MBA buzzwords, slick MBA presentation builder/giver. She ran our outfit into the ground - LOL.

The bottom line is, a CEO is a manager first and a practitioner 2nd. I think Barman has both qualities and evidence at this stage shows she has been very successful. I just don't see the need to move the C-suite from Barman to Faricy; what does he bring to the table? Marketing and merchandizing? Every auto company has a (e-commerce) accessories branch and has for years. There is nothing new there. Barman could have grabbed a VP from Ford, GM, Chrysler, et.al. and had been fine. The Slate App development? Already underway in Seattle (think of the gene pool there for app development).

To me sounds like Faricy is a Bezos suit-boy who needed a job... and Barman got the pipe.