THE latest appointments in the fleet industry.

Changes at dealer group

JOHN Cope has been appointed director of corporate sales at the Whitehouse Group, succeeding Colin Avis, who has decided to step down.

Cope has been associated with the dealer group for the past 28 years although during this time he has worked for other dealer groups.

He has been in the motor industry since leaving college and has several years’ experience in corporate sales and franchises. Cope said: ‘I am really looking forward to this new role. This is an exciting time to be working at for Whitehouse and many opportunities lie ahead for the company in the corporate sales sector.’

HITACHI Capital Vehicle Solutions has a new bid manager following the appointment of Jonathan Cantelo-Jones. Cantelo-Jones will support sales across commercial and non-commercial sectors and will be responsible for managing bids and tender responses. Prior to joining Hitachi, he worked at Inchcape Fleet Solutions.

FLEET and fuel management group Arval has increased its senior management team after taking on Liam Donnelly as sales director. Donnelly joins Arval from Arma, where he was managing director responsible for the launch of the business and the sales growth achieved over three years. He brings more than 10 years’ fleet industry experience to Arval – he was also business-to-business managing director at Lex Vehicle Leasing. In his Arval role, he will oversee new business development, customer relationship management and the customer service teams.

MONDIAL Assistance has appointed Simon Kirby as marketing manager. Kirby has worked within the marketing department at Mondial for the past eight years and in his new role will be responsible for all marketing activity focusing on increasing the group’s profitability for its clients through renewals. Kirby will take on a ‘more active’ role dealing with existing and prospective customers.

GRAHAM Rixon has joined LeasePlan UK as its UK operations director, replacing Tim Hudson, who becomes commercial director. Rixon will be responsible for the provision of vehicle lifecycle operational services to the group’s customers. In his role, he will develop new solutions for customer and business requirements. Prior to joining LeasePlan, Rixon worked for two years as a consultant in the daily rental sector but has 13 years’ industry experience in total.

ROBERT Bosch has appointed Hermann Kaess as executive vice- president and managing director for Bosch Automotive in the UK. Kaess has been at the Bosch group for the past 15 years, working in roles from systems development to sales and marketing. He will be responsible for expanding the business in the UK and strengthening relationships with customers.

CAMDEN Motors Group subsidiary Camden Corporate Fleet Services has appointed David Jones as business development director. Jones will be responsible for expanding the group’s presence in the fleet, leasing and rental sectors. He brings more than 20 years’ experience, including a 22-year career at Ford, where he held several roles including dealer business development and rental accounts manager.

VEHICLE collection and delivery group United Fleet Distribution (UFD) has appointed a new managing director. Mike Hutchings, formerly a director at UFD, has more than 20 years’ experience of running transport and distribution operations. He will be responsible for enhancing existing customer relationships and developing new ones. His appointment is part of a long-term growth plan for the company.