LATEST appointments in the fleet industry.

ZENITH Vehicle Contracts has completed its new sales team with the recruitment of Peter Blane as head of sales for the east of the UK. Blane has seven years experience gained in the leasing industry and he joins existing sales chief John Ellis who is responsible for the west of the country.

Andrew Cope, chief executive at Zenith, said: ‘Blane makes a great communicator, is really keen to get more business in, and he understands what makes Zenith different.’

CONTINENTAL Tyres has promoted Jill Rodgers to the position of commercial marketing manager. She will be responsible for identifying, developing and implementing strategies for Continental’s tyre brands with the key objective of meeting volume and profitability targets.

Robert Forrester has joined Reg Vardy as managing director. As part of the new role, Forrester will lead the dealer group’s expansion in services and products. He has been on the board of Reg Vardy since 2001, when he joined as finance director. Prior to that, he was finance director at Brookhouse Group.

Gerard McAloon has also joined as finance director. He has held several senior financial positions and was previously chief financial officer of telecoms service provider Thus.

JASON Moseley has joined safety-testing group Thatcham as director of quality and business systems. He will have overall strategic responsibility for Thatcham’s internal quality management processes, accreditation programmes and data related systems. He joined Thatcham in 2002 with several years’ automotive industry experience.

LEASEWAY Vehicle Rental has strengthened its management team with the appointment of Peter Banks as business support manager. He will be responsible for overseeing Leaseway’s major UK accounts as well as developing the company’s IT and business systems infrastructure. Banks brings more than 30 years’ experience gained in the vehicle rental industry, including 20 years in senior roles at Avis and TLS.

DAWN Clayton has joined Vanguard Rental as consumer marketing manager. She joins from rail travel company First Great Western, where she was marketing manager for three years. In her new role, she will be creating marketing strategies using databases and segmentation. She will also be responsible for promoting the Guy Salmon Prestige Rental brand to domestic and business travellers.

STUART Faid has joined MSX International to head the UK operation’s business development, marketing and strategy. He joins from RL Polk Europe, where he was managing director of the global remarketing business. Prior to that, he worked for Volkswagen for seven years.

JAMES Muir, former managing director of Mazda UK, has been appointed president and chief executive officer of Mazda Motor Europe. Muir replaces Dan Morris, who is moving to the corporate headquarters in Japan, where he will replace Stephen Odell as director and senior managing executive officer in charge of marketing, sales and customer service.

FLEET software and road safety group Jaama has appointed John Reid as senior software developer. He has seven years’ experience working in fleet software and several years’ experience developing software for the financial services industry. Andy Bradley has also joined Jaama as support analyst.