NextBoat taps entrepreneur and marine finance veteran for leadership roles

NextBoat appointed entrepreneur Zebulon Hadley as an independent director and chair of its Compensation Committee, while naming marine-retail veteran Todd Bates vice president of Finance & Insurance. Hadley brings two decades of experience founding, acquiring and scaling businesses, including National Coatings, which he grew to roughly $39 million in annual revenue. Bates previously generated more than $5 million in finance and insurance revenue across 80 locations and will lead efforts to expand NextBoat’s F&I business and improve the customer experience. The company said the appointments are intended to strengthen governance, accountability and revenue leadership as its technology-driven marine marketplace scales into a more mature public company.