Before joining Local Motors, Mike worked in the R&D Engineering Department at Factory Five Racing, Inc., a component car company that designs and manufactures light weight sports cars that customers take home and build to completion. During Factory Five Racing's development of the GTM (a mid-engine supercar that has sold 200 units in the two years since its launch), Mike was an integral member of the GTM Design Team. After the GTM production launch, he served as the GTM Project Manager. While earning his degree at Northeastern University in Boston, MA (BSME, 2003), Mike held several cooperative education positions at such companies as Borg-Warner, GE (Aircraft Engines Division), Gillette, Velcro, and Z-KAT Inc. (a medical device start-up company in Hollywood, FL) covering several areas of engineering including but not limited to design, manufacturing, benchmarking and quality control systems.

Mike has a deep rooted passion for high performance and exotic automobiles, with a particular fondness for the "passione e legenda" behind the Ferrari mark. When not at work or cheering one of the many Boston area pro/collegiate teams (particularly the Red Sox) to victory, you can find him working on his restoration of a 1984 Chevy Stepside Pickup Truck which includes such modifications as a small block 350 (300 hp), lowered suspension, custom fuel cell, and custom paint/interior (coming soon!). He currently lives in Boston, MA.

Sarah Stokes, CSO

Sarah is key to the Rally Fighter's introduction to the world - and loves it! She spends much of her time dreaming up ways to make her customer's build and ownership experience unforgettable. Her love for sales came early on...in fact, before turning 14, Sarah sold: the family piano (to avoid lessons), a tiny pickup (in danger of inheriting), and a new home (in lieu of building a fence for said home).

Sarah's first car, an orange '67 CJ5 with 5-point harnesses, permanently impressed upon her a desire to drive fun, cool vehicles. She is amassing a fleet of the classics including a Vespa, two Airstreams, and a pair of 150K+ mileage cars: an '89 Ford F150 and an '03 Accord; both of which take jumps that would impress the Duke boys. She is impatiently awaiting her own Rally Fighter Build Experience in 2010.

Thomas Lehrman is the Founder and President of Boliven LLC, a startup focusing on innovation consulting and venture investing in technology and technology-enabled businesses. Boliven maintains an office in New York City. Thomas is also an active angel investor in early stage technology and technology-enabled enterprises.

Thomas was previously the first Director of the State Department's Office of WMD Terrorism, established in 2005 by Condoleezza Rice. He also served as a Special Assistant to the Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security and as a professional staff member on the President's WMD Commission (Robb-Silberman Commission). He was awarded the Department's Meritorious Honor Award and the National Counterterrorism Center's Exceptional Performance Award in 2007 and 2006 respectively.

Prior to government service, Thomas was the co-founder and co-CEO of Gerson Lehrman Group, the world's leading expert network, providing services to over 500 of the world's largest financial institutions, consultancies, and other leading enterprises worldwide. He remains a member of its Board of Directors and of its Nominating and Governance Committee. He began his work in business as a financial analyst at Tiger Management, a leading global performance-oriented investment management firm located in New York City.

Thomas is also the co-Founder and Treasurer of the Brooklyn Excelsior Charter School, the first charter school in Brooklyn, New York and among the top performing charter schools in New York City, and he also co-founded the Hillhouse Scholars Program, a mentoring and scholarship program based in New Haven, Connecticut.

Thomas received a B.A. in History from Duke University and his law degree (J.D.) from Yale Law School. He also earned the Chartered Financial Analyst designation from the CFA Institute and has served as a teaching fellow in international economics and as a teaching assistant in history at the University of Navarra and at Yale University respectively.

Thomas's scholarly writings have been published by the Virginia Journal of International Law, The Nonproliferation Review, the Annals of Air and Space Law, and the Journal of Health Law.

Thomas lives in New York City with his wife Mara and their three children.

A technical consultant for materials and processes, Bob Scheurman is an expert in plastics technology, high-tech materials and processes, 3-D modeling, and model making. A retired advanced materials instructor from the Art Center College of Design (Pasadena, CA) (1970-2004), a material and technical instructor at Art Center Europe (1990-1999), and a Chair of the Plastics Department at California State University of Long Beach, Bob continues to teach the latest in terms of materials as an adjunct faculty member. Bob was a director of Art Centers' Technical Skill Center and set up a new program for rapid modeling in four years (1996-2000).

Throughout his career, Bob earned the George Huisman Award for Excellence in Plastics, a Disney Community Service Award, an Outstanding Industrial Educator Award CITEA, a California Governor's Award, Four Outstanding Teacher Awards at the Art Center College of Design, and an Association of Professional Model Makers Award for established and organized APMM Conference in Pasadena (2001) and Orange County (2003).

Yoav is a Senior Architect at Hubspot, a privately-held software company in Cambridge, MA. In this role, Yoav is responsible for the company's overall software architecture, product development, engineering training, recruiting, and development, and data center operations. Prior to this Yoav was a Senior Architect at Cargurus LLC, a networking site for car owners.

Furthermore, for the past seven years, Yoav has been heavily involved with The Apache Software Foundation, one of the world's leading open-source software development communities, where he is currently Vice President. In this role, Yoav is responsible for the development of the Tomcat server, the world's best-known and most widely-used Java server. Yoav is also a member of the Apache Incubator Project Management Committee, and is responsible for creating dynamic, productive communities around open-source projects that wish to join the Apache Software Foundation. An honors graduate from Boston University, Yoav holds a Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in Computer Systems Engineering (1999). Yoav also holds a Master of Engineering Management degree from MIT Sloan (2006).

Jeffrey Robert Jones is a Co-Founder and Advisor at Local Motors. Born and raised in the Motor City, Jeff took up the auto trade during high school. His vehicles have included three Ford Rangers (1985, 1986, 1997) and two Mercury Cougars (1999, 2002 XR), each tricked out with wickedly modified infotainment and powertrain systems. A decade-long veteran of Ford Motor Company, Jeff worked in the Research & Innovation Laboratory on polymer research for production and alternative fuel vehicles and in Product Development formulating strategy and design for modular infotainment products (MP3, NAV, SYNCTM).

More recently, Jeff has served automotive and industrial clients as an associate at UBS Investment Bank. In 2007, Jeff started CarbonGage.org, a non-profit foundation targeted at helping individuals more accurately gauge energy and fuel usage. Jeff is a three time graduate of the University of Michigan (BSE Electrical Engineering, BSE Computer Engineering, and MS Engineering Management) and holds an MBA with distinction from Harvard Business School. Jeff and his wife, Kristi, split time between family in Michigan and an apartment near New York City.