Greg Thibault to Retire as Avis Budget’s VP of Fleet Disposal

Greg Thibault will retire as Avis Budget’s vice president of fleet disposal after 20 years of leading Avis Budget’s auction sales and wholesale turn-back process with manufacturers.

Thibault will retire on Oct. 6.

Thibault helped lead Avis Budget with MarketConnect, an online wholesale auction application. Thibault maintained relationships with original equipment manufacturers as well as representing Avis Budget’s program car portfolio.

"Avis Budget Group thanks Greg for his 20 years of service as well as his leadership in fleet remarketing," said Mike Schmidt, Avis Budget Group's senior vice president of fleet services. "Greg was instrumental in helping Avis Budget Group's shape for the future as car sales morphed into fleet remarketing."

Thibault first started his career in car rental in 1982. He worked at Alamo’s airport locations in Denver, Los Angeles, and Salt Lake City. He then worked at Advantage Rent A Car from 1990 to 1997 and joined Avis in May 1997. Starting in operations, Thibault moved to fleet, where he spent the majority of his 35 years in car rental.

Mark Zurales, Avis Budget’s vice president of fleet remarketing, will assume the responsibilities of auction sales, MarketConnect, and the wholesale turn-back process. Zurales started with Avis Budget in January of this year, after used car sales experience and corporate platform management at both Sonic Automotive and AutoNation.

“Greg is one of the most intelligent and influential people in the remarketing industry,” said Tim Finley, executive sales director at Adesa. “He helped develop and utilized internet remarketing very early on in the process while still supporting physical auctions. The industry is going to miss his leadership and perspective.”