Black Book today announced that Ricky Beggs, Senior Vice President and Editorial Director, will retire from the company effective April 1, 2015. Mr. Beggs has served as the voice of Black Book for the automotive industry since his career began thirty-four years ago in 1981.

“It has been an honor to work alongside Ricky who truly has become an industry legend,” said Tom Cross, President of Black Book. “His legacy of leadership and his dedication to excellence have left an enduring mark on our company, ensuring our position as the industry’s most reliable and accurate source of vehicle valuation and insight.”

Mr. Beggs joined Black Book in 1981 as Used Car Editor and quickly established himself as an authority figure in delivering automotive vehicle valuation data and insight. He was named Black Book’s Managing Editor in 1990. During his tenure, Ricky has been a trusted voice among automotive professionals and led Black Book’s valuation services through decades of industry evolution including the valuation services advancement from printed books to today’s cloud-based Software as a Service and Data as a Service offerings.

Ricky has been a pioneer and a driving force behind Black Book’s innovative approach to remaining the industry’s most accurate vehicle value data provider. Under Mr. Beggs’ leadership, Black Book became the industry’s first provider of daily vehicle valuations. Black Book remains the only guidebook to report the market as it happens, directly from the auction lanes, and automotive professionals have come to rely on Ricky Beggs and Black Book because of its rich industry insight. A recipient of the Warren Young Jr. Scholarship Fellow Award, Mr. Beggs delivered presentations to industry observers at many key conferences and events for manufacturers, dealers and remarketers, lenders and the media.  Ricky led his team to be the first guidebook to have its entire editorial staff become Certified Auto Remarketers (CAR) affording a deeper understanding of the needs of remarketers, dealers, fleet managers and auto lenders.  Ricky, himself, was the third person ever to achieve CAR certification recognizing early on the significance of knowing how all aspects of remarketing relate to accurate reporting and interpretation of the market and as essential to helping Black Book’s customers make profitable decisions.  

“I will be forever grateful to Black Book for giving me the opportunity to be a part of a team that has represented the interests of the automotive community with respect and integrity all these years,” said Ricky Beggs. “I’m certainly proud of our accomplishments, and I leave knowing Black Book is well positioned for its next phase of growth and development.”

Black Book’s innovative and market-leading performance will continue under the new leadership of Anil Goyal, Vice President of Automotive Valuation and Analytics. Mr. Goyal has a Ph.D. in Decision Sciences and an M.S. in Operations Research from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, in addition to a Bachelor’s Degree with Honors from Indian Institute of Technology.  “We’re delighted to have Anil take over responsibility for both our editorial and analytic operations”, said Tom Cross.  “Anil brings a completely new set of skills to Black Book and deep background in strategy and analytics having held a number of senior positions in the banking industry in risk management, marketing, and operations.”  Reporting to Mr. Goyal is thirty-four year industry veteran, Kevin Giddens, who has been appointed to the position of Managing Editor. Mr. Giddens will lead the day-to-day editorial operations including a team of veteran editors who have a collective 300+ years of automotive industry and valuation experience. “Black Book has a great foundation in our people, data and technology. I am excited about combining advanced analytics with our editorial team’s deep automotive knowledge to provide enhanced insights to our customers,” said Anil Goyal.

For more on Ricky Beggs’ legacy at Black Book, click here to read about his accomplishments in greater detail.

Black Book® is best known in the automotive industry for providing timely, independent and accurate vehicle pricing information, and is available to industry-qualified users through online subscription products, mobile applications and licensing agreements. A leading provider since 1955, Black Book has continuously evolved to ensure that it achieves its goal of delivering mission-critical information to its customers, along with the insight necessary to successfully buy, sell, and lend. Black Book data is published daily by National Auto Research, a division of Hearst Business media, and the company maintains offices in Georgia, Florida, and Maryland.