Tempe, AZ -- (SBWIRE) -- 09/21/2018 -- Dmitri Aleksandrov, former IT Director of Autohaus Arizona, was recently named to the C-Suite. A graduate of ASU's Barrett Honors College, Dmitri has been with the company since finishing his double Bachelor's degrees (CIS & Supply Chain Management) in 2002. Hired by then Chief Executive Officer Carolyn Lefebvre, Dmitri had what can be called humble beginnings with the eCommerce.

As he recounts his start with AutohausAZ, "We were preparing to launch the original catalog and first iteration of our website in Cold Fusion. I worked long hours on Carolyn's couch at her house in those days. Cross browser compatibility was even bigger challenge than today. Not many tools existed back then to test multiple browsers. I remember the first time we tested on Netscape, the page came up as black blank space."

Since then, Dmitri has had his hands on most of the marketing and technical decision-making. The company has moved locations twice in that time-span and has evolved from a small business start-up with a growth plan, to one of the leading European auto parts storefronts online.

Now, Dmitri explains, "The company has gone through so many different stages of automation and technology evolution, from the phones to order placement and fulfillment - we don't do things the same way we did when we started this journey. Everything is cloud-based utilizing the latest computing platforms and services."

When thinking back to the first few years Dmitri recalls, "In the early 2000's, you didn't pay for ads on Google, SEO was a strategy not a science, and customers had to wait a week for their parts. We're door to door in a couple of days now and have ramped up our efforts on all fronts to make AutohausAZ a go-to auto parts online store for many people across the US, as well as internationally."

After Carolyn's departure in 2017, youngest son Stephan Lefebvre took the reins of a business that he had grown up with and has also been with since he graduated ASU in 2007. The corporate culture has always been family oriented with much of the staff either related or friends. The average tenure of the mid-sized company is 7.5 years/employee, with many having been around since the 90s.

When asked about his history working with Dmitri, Stephan explained "Dmitri and I have both grown up with this company, albeit a few years apart. The passion that he and every one of our team members exudes each day is palpable. We all care so much about our customers and the experience, I don't think the job will ever be done."

As the company all congratulated Dmitri and dug into his celebratory cake, many knew this decision had been a foregone conclusion for some time. As Dmitri went back to his office to return to a pressing stack of work he noticed a picture that Stephan had found and put on his whiteboard. It was from his Carolyn's couch in the early 2000s. He had the same focused stare on his screen, jeans a little baggier and hair a little darker.