Boats Group has appointed Brandon McGraw as a non-executive director as the operator of Boat Trader, YachtWorld and boats.com expands its use of artificial intelligence across consumer marketplaces and professional tools.
McGraw is currently interim chief marketing officer for consumer and hardware marketing at OpenAI, where he leads commercial and brand strategy for consumer applications and hardware.
He previously led consumer marketing at Anthropic and co-founded AI personal intelligence company Reflective Works.
His earlier career includes senior product and marketing positions at DoorDash, Twitch, Meta and Google. Boats Group said this experience would support the development and commercial adoption of technology across its international platforms.
Global marketplaces
“Brandon has spent his career building transformative products and helping some of the world’s most influential technology companies navigate defining moments in their growth,” said Patrick Kolek, chief executive of Boats Group.
“His perspective will be incredibly valuable as we scale new capabilities across our global marketplaces.”
Recent developments include the integration of YachtWorld and Boat Trader into ChatGPT, creating a conversational route for boat searches. Boats Group has also introduced Listing Optimizer, which uses marketplace data and buyer behaviour information to help sellers improve listings.
“What excites me is the opportunity to help shape what comes next for a company with global scale, unique data and an important role in the marine industry,” said McGraw.
“I’m thrilled to join the board and support Pat and the team through this next phase of innovation and growth.”
