The company, which has been in its latest guise since 2004 with the current directors carrying out a management buyout, has been Glenda's place of work since 1967 when she joined Walter Somers Heavy Forging as an administrator. She witnessed first-hand the first mobile column lift developments that TotalKare bases its work around today. She said: "This is the most thoughtful gift and is totally unexpected. I could not be more grateful."
Simon Wood (above, right), a well-known figure in Alexander Dennis Limited (ADL), has been promoted to the position of general manager, coach sales. He will be based in Anston, and will handle both retail and fleet sales. The promotion follows the recent retirement of Mick McElhone after nearly 40 years in the industry. Wood joined Plaxton in 2004 as a graduate of Newcastle University. Since then he has moved steadily through the ranks of the business, latterly in the role of area sales manager for central England and Wales.
After more than three decades, Rygor Commercials’ longest-serving team member, Steve Evans, above, is still all smiles as he celebrates his commitment to the company. Westbury service manager Steve Evans joined the business at the age of 16, working his way up from an apprentice technician in the workshop, to leading the entire service team at the company’s headquarters. He said: “I have had the privilege of seeing the business grow and develop over the years and have always been looked after by the company. I would never look outside of the business for work.” Tim Stacey, Rygor managing director, said: “Steve is a real personality in our business, a smiling face and point of guidance for the rest of our team. He is one of those people you can always rely on and he has helped lead our Westbury service team to success, year after year.”
IVECO has appointed Chris Read, above, as light business line director, with responsibility for its award-winning Daily light commercial range in the UK and Ireland. Read, 36, started out in the automotive industry as a 15-year-old, joining Vauxhall as an apprentice technician in 1997. He finished his apprenticeship and, while gaining valuable experience, he saw his future being outside of the workshop. He spent seven years on the aftersales and customer service teams before becoming the company’s youngest-ever regional customer care development manager at just 25. After working his way up the ranks at Vauxhall, he joined Ford in 2015 as business development manager, before moving to IVECO in 2017 as national sales performance manager. Read will be based at IVECO’s UK headquarters in Basildon and will report to Stuart Webster, IVECO UK & Ireland business director.
Ryder apprentice Jay Ahmed, above, centre, was shortlisted for the Apprentice of the Year in the engineering and manufacturing category of the Asian Apprenticeship Awards. He joined Ryder’s Apprenticeship Programme in 2013 at Stephenson College, and graduated in 2016. The Milton Keynes technician is in his fourth year at Ryder, and is undertaking a HNC in Automotive Engineering, which he’s due to complete in 2018. In addition, the commercial vehicle hire company was named Large Employer of the Year at the awards, organised to encourage more young people from the British Asian community to become apprentices and support the government’s target of increasing the number of apprentices by 20% by 2020. Ryder HR director Catherine Steel, also pictured, said: "At Ryder, we believe in investing in our people and that the best teams are built with a diverse group of people and perspectives." On average, Ryder recruits a dozen apprentice technicians each year and they attend Stephenson College on a block-release basis. Those that perform well have the opportunity to continue their training on Level 4 diploma or Level 4 HNC courses.
A new compliance manager has been appointed by fleet management software specialist FleetCheck ahead of the implementation of the new General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) in May. Sue O'Connell, above, has extensive experience in software testing and compliance, most notably as senior product consultant at corporate documentation company PleaseTech, where she was in charge of unit, user acceptance, stress and performance testing. Sue will also be helping FleetCheck work towards the ISO27001 information security standard, which specifies and audits processes that are intended to bring information security under clear and unambiguous management control.
Waste collection and municipal vehicle hire firm NWH Group partnered with Scotland’s national children’s charity Children 1st. At Christmas it took part in a toy drive, and staff have also committed to donating a gift to a child. In addition, the company is also involving staff in fundraising initiatives and collecting donations at key events on the calendar. Thirty of NWH Group’s staff from depots in Dundee, Glasgow and Edinburgh have already committed to Tough Mudder in June 2018.
Whistl has appointed Jason Powell as its new IT director following the move of Lieneke Happel to managing director of recently-bought subsidiary Prism DM. Powell joined Whistl to implement a new finance and ERP platform, and has now assumed responsibility for driving the IT strategy of the whole business. He has more than 25 years’ experience in senior technology roles.
Asset Alliance has appointed John Harris in a new role as aftersales, procurement and productivity manager to ensure that customers receive the highest standard of support from its service partner network. Harris will work closely with Asset Alliance’s repair and maintenance partners, as well as parts and tyre manufacturers, to optimise customer experience. He is also well placed to provide strategic advice to Asset Alliance’s fleet customers, having spent 26 years at Enterprise Flex-E-Rent, formerly Burnt Tree Vehicle Rental, most recently as fleet compliance manager. Harris is based at the commercial vehicle asset finance and leasing company’s head office in Wolverhampton.
Arval UK, the vehicle leasing and fleet management company, has announced a change to its executive management team in the UK. Benoit Dilly, who has been managing director of the UK business since 2013, has left Arval UK to take up a new position within the BNP Paribas Group, based in Paris. Replacing him as managing director is Miguel Cabaça, who officially started the role in November. He moves to the UK from Arval’s corporate head office in Paris where he was director of private lease for Arval. Prior to that, Miguel held a number of management roles within the BNP Paribas Personal Finance business, which he joined in 2000.
Thompsons (UK) welcomes Sheri Gibbons, above, as its new business development manager for South East England. She will be working out of the company HQ in Croydon, and has gained a broad range of heavy truck sales and product experience with Scania’s dealership in nearby Purfleet.
Hiab, part of Cargotec, has appointed Mathen Thomas as senior vice president, tail lifts. Mathen will lead Hiab's tail lifts business through brands Zepro, Del and Waltco. He will report to Hiab president Roland Sundén. Mathen joins Hiab from Cummins and global business areas within Ingersoll Rand, last as vice president, global vertical industries. He succeeds Johan Sandberg, who decided to leave Hiab and pursue other interests outside the company.
Jacobs Vehicle Systems (JVS), manufacturer of diesel and natural gas engine retarding systems and valve actuation mechanisms, has appointed Dennis Gallagher as president. Gallagher’s background consists of over 25 years of experience within Danaher and Fortive companies including Dover, Danaher Motion, and Pacific Scientific in which he held various positions of increasing responsibility ranging from engineering, sales, and marketing.Most recently, he served as vice president and general manager for Kollmorgen in the European, Middle Eastern, African, and Indian markets, while residing in Germany.