Zenith has strengthened its focus on its employee benefits portfolio by appointing Andrew Kirby to its board as its first ever commercial director for employee benefit schemes.

Kirby has more than 16 years' experience in the fleet industry in a variety of roles spanning sales, employee schemes, strategic development and change management. His most recent position was as regional, public sector and SME sales director for Lex Autolease.

Zenith has been providing employee car ownership (ECO) for many years and launched its salary sacrifice car scheme product in 2008. ECO has seen a resurgence in popularity recently, according to Zenith, particularly in the form of blended funding solutions.

Salary sacrifice car schemes continue to be a rapidly growing area for Zenith in its target market of mid to large corporates. The company has invested in its online systems and communication strategies to maximise the value of all employee vehicle benefits to both corporates and their workforce.

Kirby said: "Zenith’s strong industry representation, along with their focus on growth and development make it a very exciting organisation to join. I am looking forward to developing its employee benefits portfolio and further enhancing the company’s existing offering for both current and new customers."

Tim Buchan, chief executive at Zenith added: "Zenith is firmly committed to investing in ‘all employee’ vehicle benefits. We seek to provide a company vehicle to every employee within an organisation and Andrew’s appointment forms one part of our total mobility strategy."