LATEST appointments in the fleet industry.

  • CUSTOM Fleet has appointed a sixth broker manager as part of a planned expansion of its business in the fleet broker market. Juliette Samuels who has over 12 years fleet industry experience including roles at several leasing companies, will be responsible for a new area east of the Pennines stretching from the north east to south Yorkshire.

    She joins David Brown and Paul Thurgood, who recently assumed responsibility for the West Midlands and south east regions respectively, in completing the new enlarged broker manager team.

    Each will be responsible for around 25 brokers within their regions and, by boosting the management team in this way, Custom Fleet expects to increase the number of brokers it trades with by approximately a third.

  • Michelle Reynolds has been appointed as senior implementation services manager at fleet software and occupational road safety experts Jaama. Reynolds joins Jaama after spending seven years working for rival software firm cfc solutions. Jason Francis, Jaama’s managing director sold: ‘Michelle is a high calibre individual who understands IT projects and customer requirements. I have no doubt she will prove to be a valuable asset to Jaama.’

  • Hitachi Capital (UK) has appointed David Swift to the new role of group head of marketing as part of the centralisation of its marketing function. Swift will be responsible for the entire marketing function across the company’s key business areas, including vehicle leasing and management.

    He has more than 20 years’ experience in financial services marketing, both in the UK and overseas. His previous roles include head of customer marketing at MBNA Europe Bank.

  • Gary Gibson has been appointed to the newly-created role of head of customer services at epyx. Gibson will have overall responsibility for managing relationships with UK customers using the company’s 1link e-commerce platforms. He has had extensive experience in the fleet industry, in charge of purchasing at both Overdrive and Motability Finance, as well as being operations director at AA Tyre Fit.

  • Alistair Darling, Secretary of State for Transport, has appointed Peter Hendy as the new chairman of the Commission for Integrated Transport (CfIT). Hendy takes over from Professor David Begg whose appointment ended on March 31. David Leeder has been acting chairman in the interim. Hendy’s appointment began on July 1 and will run for three years. He is the managing director of Surface Transport at Transport for London and has been a member of CfIT since July 1 2004.