Hyundai Motor America Chief Marketing Officer Dean Evans has stepped down after four years in the role.

The South Korean auto giant stated Evans is leaving to pursue other career opportunities, as per a report by Forbes. A company spokesperson described his tenure as “four highly-successful years.”

The spokesperson stated, “Hyundai is greatly appreciative to Dean for his contributions, where together we’ve become a leader in automotive marketing with many innovative and award-winning programs. Under his guidance, we’ve consistently produced some of the best and most memorable Super Bowl advertising and have modernized our digital marketing and lead generation activities. He was also instrumental in defining our Better Drives Us brand promise and helped introduce our commitment to improve the shopping and buying experience.”

Evans, who joined Hyundai in 2015, was listed by Forbes as one of the World’s Most Influential CMOs in both 2018 and 2019. Prior to joining the Hyundai, he was president and CEO of the auto retailing platform LotLinx. Before that he spent nearly three years as CMO of Subaru of America and four years as CMO of Dealer.com.

Meanwhile, Brian Smith, Hyundai’s chief operating officer will serve as interim CMO until Hyundai can find a replacement. The company has started an immediate search for a new CMO.

“We are confident we will find a dynamic marketing leader who will continue to be innovative in how we reach consumers and communicate about our brand and products,” the spokesperson wrote.

In addition to leading the company’s advertising innovations ranging from traditional campaigns and digital marketing to immersive media, Evans also helped spearhead the company’s experimentation with emerging technologies. His successor will indeed have big shoes to fill given the automotive sector is rapidly transforming with technological innovations.

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