About Us

Total Car Score™ was started by a group of enthusiasts with a long history of working in the automotive industry. The people behind Total Car Score appreciate not only the value of in-depth vehicle information, but the need to provide this information in an effective and engaging format.

Karl Brauer

CEO

Karl majored in business studies at Pepperdine University before transferring to Colorado University in Boulder to complete a degree in Journalism. Post-graduation, he combined his lifelong automotive passion and knowledge with his writing skills to earn a position at Hot Rod magazine. After four years at Petersen Publishing, during which he participated in the launch of the highly successful Super Street magazine, Karl left the print world in 1998 to join a fledging automotive web site as the 33rd employee. Over the next 13 years this start-up, known as Edmunds.com, would grow to 450 employees while attracting 14 million monthly visitors. During this explosive growth period Karl served as Edmunds.com's Editor in Chief, establishing the site's authoritative voice, tone and presentation of consumer-friendly vehicle information while also representing Edmunds.com at industry functions and in radio, TV and print interviews. Karl was the first internet-based automotive journalist invited to join the 50-person jury for the North American Car and Truck of the Year (NACTOY) in 2003. He continues to serve on their six-person organizing committee.

Charles Schiavone

COO & Editorial Director

Charlie graduated from the University of Southern California with a bachelor’s degree in Business Marketing. He has vast experience in several different industries ranging from commercial sales to data center management services. He started his own corporate wellness company in 2010 and published a related book, The Office Effect, focusing on workplace health practices. Charlie also has ten years of experience in automotive content and data operations, electronic publishing, website operations, customer support and data syndication for one of the largest automotive websites, Edmunds.com. In his decade at Edmunds he developed a comprehensive set of leadership skills and technical competencies while training and leading the team of data editors responsible for building Edmunds.com's vast data warehouse.

Jon Wollman

CTO

Jon is an accomplished technology leader with management level expertise high volume, high profile web properties. Jon has over 15 years of experience with directing both small and very large software development teams in Agile processes at sites such as Edmunds.com and Styleclick.com. Jon understands all the 'ins' and 'outs' of the backend and frontend code/software involved with powering robust, data-driven Websites. Additionally, Jon is an industry known expert in the fields of Data Warehousing/Web Analytics and Data Architecture providing solutions to empower informed business decisions.

Bryan Axelrood

CFO & General Council

Bryan was born and raised in Southern California. A die hard car fanatic since birth, his passion for all things automotive has only intensified over the years. Bryan graduated from University of California, Los Angeles with a Bachelor of Arts degree and then went on to Loyola Law School, Los Angeles to obtain his Juris Doctorate degree. Thereafter, Bryan attended Georgetown University Law Center and received two post-doctorate specialization degrees consisting of an L.L.M. (Taxation) and an L.L.M. (Securities Regulation). Bryan has over twenty-five years of experience focusing primarily in the areas of entity formation, reorganization, mergers/acquisitions and taxation. His experience includes directing the formation of small start-up ventures, large publicly traded companies, and just about everything in between.

Total Car Score Consulting Team

Total Car Score has been very fortunate to work with some of the best vehicle data and imagery specialists in the industry. Vehicle information is as complex as it is abundant and inconsistent throughout the Internet, making it difficult for car shoppers to research and compare vehicles of interest. Total Car Score’s mission is to provide a comprehensive, industry-wide assessment of a vehicle in a straightforward user interface, giving car shoppers and enthusiasts an immediate understanding of how well rated a vehicle is, both on its own merits and in relation to its primary competitors. In order to achieve this mission, you need a team of experts to sift through the overabundance of automotive information across countless media outlets and elevate the most valuable components to create a streamlined presentation. Total Car Score’s team of data experts has accomplished this task.

David Barks

Data Architecture

David graduated from the University of California Santa Barbara with a bachelor’s degree in History, with an emphasis in Cold War Atomic Technology and Diplomacy, with a minor in Cultural Anthropology. His professional career began at J.D. Power and Associates, serving two contracts as a research associate in the New Home Builder Study division. From there David went on to spend nearly five years at Edmunds.com as a Data Analyst and Supervisor of Data Development. During his time at Edmunds he created data management and analysis applications for divisions throughout the data content department; thus assuring data quality and efficiency by streamlining data processing and reports. David also oversaw all of the transaction VIN data, helping Edmunds become an authoritative source for vehicle pricing and market analysis. His work for Total Car Score includes creating, enhancing and maintaining a comprehensive vehicle database. This database is the foundation for Total Car Score’s innovative scoring system.

Matt Landish

Photojournalist

A website about cars wouldn’t be much without photography. That’s where Matt comes in as our digital media expert. He collaborates with Karl and Charlie on the creation and publishing of images and articles while managing TCS’ cavernous media archives. He joins us from Edmunds.com where he spent the better part of a decade designing and managing a comprehensive digital media environment that was foundational and instrumental to the company's success during his time there. Prior to that Matt worked with the founding group that started the Geek Squad and was responsible for their first satellite office outside of Minneapolis - in Los Angeles. Matt is an avid auto-enthusiast and has owned more vehicles with specialty trims than could fill a Scrabble board. His educational background spans from journalism to a contemplative step into MBA territory, but for now he’s happy playing with cars and cameras, and we certainly can’t fault him for that.

Neil Lieberman

Data Development

After graduating from the University of Arizona with a bachelors in business marketing, Neil found his way back to sunny Southern California. As a self-proclaimed car enthusiast since he could walk, Neil was ecstatic to start his career in the automotive industry at JD Power and Associates. Working at the Power Information Network (PIN) provided the opportunity to become familiar with the Dealer Management System (DMS), new and used sales data and Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) deciphering. In 2000, Neil joined a rising star in the online automotive space, Edmunds.com. Neil's responsibilities evolved over his 11 years as a member of the growing data department. He built a team responsible for the processing, cleansing and validating of various data products and integrating of new datasets for website display.

Larry London

Vehicle Data Specialist

A native of Los Angeles, Larry grew up with a heritage of all things mechanical from his father, a retired engineer and former Bonneville Salt Flats record holder, but his obsession is the automobile. After graduating from Cal State Northridge, Larry spent a dozen years expanding and fine-tuning his encyclopedic knowledge of cars working in procurement, research, data management and quality control at various automotive companies such as CarParts.com, Brembo and the last 7 years with Edmunds.com. In his personal time Larry restores and modifies award winning classic cars (featured in several publications) and is always planning his next car project.

MobileBits

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Total Car Score