By John Simpson 16 July 2012
Tusker bags former Alphabet director
Mark Sinclair has joined Tusker as its first Chief Operating Officer.
Sinclair moves over to the contract hire provider and salary sacrifice specialist after 12 years with BMW’s multi-marque leasing company, Alphabet, where he was Director of International Operations.
Mark believes that Tusker can triple the size of its portfolio in the coming three years and develop into a strong, solid mid-tier sized player in the fleet market.
He said: “I’m joining Tusker at a very exciting stage in its development and at a time when I can add real value to the business as it moves forward.
“I’m a strong believer in salary sacrifice as a product that is opening up and growing in the UK. Tusker is very well positioned in the market to leverage that and to capitalise on the growth opportunities available.”
Mark will be reporting to Tusker Chief Executive David Hosking, who said: “Mark brings a wealth of premier division experience to Tusker at a time when we are making great strides towards our ambitious growth plans, and we are delighted to welcome him to the business.
“We confidently expect Mark to help further refine and develop our operations to ensure that we continue to provide the first class customer experience and innovative products and solutions for which we have become so well known for.”
Scott scales Citroen’s CV ladder
Citroen has promoted Scott Michael to Head of Commercial Vehicles & Business Centre Programme after just 18 months as Commercial Vehicle Operations Manager.
32-year old Scott has been part of Citroen since joining as a Fleet Analyst in 2003, serving as Area Fleet Sales Manager and Commercial Vehicle Sales Manager in that time.
“I am delighted to take up this new role with all the opportunities and challenges it will bring,” he commented.
“Since its inception, Citroen’s Business Centre programme has been a major success and our LCV sales performance has remained very strong.
“Both these factors have played key roles in enabling Citroen to expand its business, especially in the SME sector, and I am looking forward to working on maintaining this growth.”
No Payne, no gain for Nexus
Nexus Vehicle Rental has brought in Lindsay Payne as the company’s new Group Financial Controller.
Joining after stints with a range of blue chip organisations, Lindsay will be working closely with Nexus’ senior management team on business development projects.
“I was impressed by Nexus’ forward-thinking approach to service provision,” she revealed.
“Growth and development, as seen in Nexus over the last few years is a rare occurrence in today’s economic climate and testament to its foresight and market expertise.
“I’m excited to be working for a company synonymous with innovation and look forward to further enhancing my own skill set within the team.”
Lindsay’s experience means that she will be worthy addition to the business overall as much as the finance team, said MD John Ellis.
He added: “Her wide-reaching knowledge from start-up organisations to multi-nationals is an undoubted asset to Nexus’ continued business development and commitment to always providing high quality customer service. We look forward to seeing the results of her hard work.”
Epyx banks on Pay
Richard Pay has been named as the new Business Development Manager for Epyx’s 1link Disposal Network e-commerce platform.
With previous roles including business development manager at Pendragon PLC and major accounts manager at Masterlease, Richard will be responsible for increasing the number of vehicles that are sold by major fleets through 1link Disposal Network as well as adding to the dealer community that buys from the platform.
He said: “1link Disposal Network is an excellent product and its use by fleets and dealers has been increasing exponentially in recent years. I am aiming to build on that growth trajectory.”
David Wallace, Sales and Business Development Director at Epyx, himself a recent addition, added: “Richard has a great track record in online remarketing and we are sure that he will make a superb contribution here at Epyx.”
Long stretches Zenith’s CV team
Ryan Long has been added to Zenith’s commercial vehicle team.
Previously, Lombard Vehicle Management’s LCV General Sales Manager, Ryan will be tasked with developing Zenith’s commercial vehicle proposition and supply chain.
He commented: “I am excited to have joined Zenith because of its ambitious growth strategy, its commitment to delivering high levels of customer service and its excellent operating and reporting systems, used both by customers and internally.
“I am looking forward to using my knowledge and experience to help further develop Zenith’s commercial vehicle proposition.”
Zenith Chief Executive Tim Buchan added: “Growing our commercial vehicle fleet and continuously improving our offering is an important part of our strategy.
“Many of our customers have extensive commercial vehicle fleets and Ryan’s appointment will help strengthen and develop this area. Ryan will be working with all the key business areas – from system and risk management, through purchasing, maintenance, downtime management and vehicle disposals and we are delighted to welcome him to our team.
“In particular, Ryan has the brief to create a Zenith commercial vehicle hub, which will provide the ability for our customers to have their vehicles built to their requirements through a number of converter operations.”
Lex Autolease promotes Puddy
Lex Autolease has also strengthened its Commercial Vehicle Team with several senior appointments, including the promotion of Marcus Puddy to Commercial Vehicle Director.
The names of the new Senior Commercial Vehicle Consultant and two Commercial Vehicle Consultants will be revealed shortly.
Whoever they are, what is certain is they’ll be reporting to Marcus Puddy who said: “Due to the prevailing economic head winds, the credit constrained market is increasingly shifting customers away from outright purchase towards contract hire in order to release capital and overhaul ageing fleets.
“We are responding to this trend with a new commercial vehicle offer which will provide a seamless, one stop shop for everything from basic contract hire through to highly complex vehicle conversions and consultancy.”
Lex Autolease currently has a total fleet size of approximately 280,000 vehicles, containing over 70,000 commercial vehicles.
Crucial recruitments at Job Co-op Automotive
Job Co-op Automotive – a recently founded recruitment agency dedicated to limiting staff turnover in the automotive industry – has appointed three account managers
Russell Gatenby, Gemma Reeson and Tim Webster will be responsible for guiding dealers through the recruitment process as well as offering support to potential candidates.
Ken Trinder, Director at Job Co-op Automotive, said: “The expertise of our account managers will be crucial to the success of job co-op automotive and we have recruited some very high calibre people.”
Categories: Fleet news , Appointments
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