LATEST appointments in the fleet industry.

  • ALL-in-One Leasing, the contract hire and leasing company set up by used car retailer Carcraft Group, has appointed its first field-based regional sales managers. Saratha Govindasamy, who has previous fleet sales experience at Vardy Contract Motoring and Vauxhall Motor Group, will cover north west England and western Scotland.

    Former Hertz Lease regional sales manager Brian Smith will be responsible for north eastern England and eastern Scotland, while Simon Curtis, with previous senior sales experience at Tuskerdirect and Hertz Lease, will develop new business opportunities throughout the south west and Wales.

  • AUTOMOTIVE e-commerce firm epyx has made Jason Gill business development manager for procurement products. He will be tasked with developing epyx’s 1link Vehicle Network platform and the company’s Select product. Gill has spent more than a decade in the fleet industry, working for Lex Vehicle Leasing and Arval PHH, and as an independent vehicle leasing broker.

  • STEVE Clary has been appointed manager of rental, remarketing and direct sales for fleet operations at Ford of Britain. The newly-created position amalgamates roles previously held by David Butcher, the manager of direct sales and Malcolm Fryer, manager of rental and remarketing. Butcher has retired and Fryer has resigned to pursue other business interests. Clary has held a variety of positions with Ford, including fleet merchandising manager, manager of fleet and commercial sales for Ford Credit and most recently, European performance tracking manager of global consumer insights.

  • CAR rental giant Hertz has made Fabrice Quinquenel sales director for Europe, covering markets in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Quinquenel brings a wealth of experience and will place special focus on key growth segments, such as replacement insurance and leasing. He has been at Hertz since graduating in law in 1995, working with the legal team before moving into sales and marketing.

    Bruno Kauffmann succeeds Quinquenel as corporate sales manager for Europe, looking after international customers in France, Italy, Spain, Belgium and Luxemburg. A business graduate from INSEEC Paris and UCLA, he worked for Evian and the RAC, before joining Hertz in 2001.

  • BREAKDOWN cover firm HBG Assistance has made David Digby head of sales. He has more than 30 years’ experience in the breakdown business with both the RAC and the AA and will head up HBG’s on-going expansion into the commercial motor market. Digby will also oversee the sales and marketing operations of the company’s equestrian division, Equestrian Support Services, that has been providing specialist breakdown cover for horseboxes, horses and their owners since 1999.

  • NORWICH Union is doubling the size of its fleet management services adviser team after increasing demand. Nine experienced risk advisers will begin fleet induction training in March and will be responsible for visiting fleets in their respective areas. In their first phase of training the new advisers will learn how fleet vehicles are sourced and managed, what is important to fleet managers and the types of advice they will be required to give.

    Following the initial classroom training, they will shadow existing fleet risk advisers and will initially be involved with ‘low complexity fleets’ typically featuring up to 50 vehicles.

  • > MERCEDES-Benz of York has appointed David Birtwhistle as service manager at its site at Clifton Moor. Birtwhistle spent 16 years with the Automobile Association, starting as a technician and rising to become regional manager, responsible for 18 branches. He was subsequently made aftersales manager for a Ford dealership in Leeds before joining Mercedes-Benz.

  • SCOTT Pearson has been appointed to the new role of public sector account manager at fleet software firm cfc solutions. He joins from Forensic Science in Birmingham, where he was fleet manager in charge of a fleet of 200 vehicles and a user of cfc software. His new role has been created as cfc prepares to bring a new public sector version of its FleetPlus package to the market.

  • JOHN Dimmer has been made professional services manager at RAC Software Solutions. The new role has been created as part of a drive to improve customer services. Dimmer is responsible for managing the delivery of projects to all customers across the company’s portfolio and streamlining the installation and configuration process. He joined the firm in 2005 after 20 years’ experience working for IBM Sequent, NCR and EMC.

  • PAY-as-you-go rental firm WhizzGo has appointed Guy Jones as its first head of sales and marketing. Jones’ track record includes marketing roles at Land Rover, Bentley and Kia. WhizzGo hires out cars by the hour, with no monthly or annual membership, as an alternative to pool cars or traditional hire cars.