The announcement came yesterday (26 April 2016) at the Commercial Vehicle Show, NEC in Birmingham, and Mrs Bell will be officially inaugurated at the SOE’s AGM on 19 July 2016.
“The Society has an important role to play as technology and working environments become more complicated, and requirements for engineering professionals become more stringent,” states Bell.
“I’m looking forward to taking a leading role in how SOE evolves to meet the changing needs of its members,” she adds.
Bell has been an honorary fellow of the SOE since 2010 and is also a fellow (and current president) of CILT (the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport).
She was admitted as a solicitor in 1985 and established her own practice in 1990, specialising in criminal and transport law. She was appointed Traffic Commissioner for the North West of England in 2000, and in 2012 promoted to Senior Traffic Commissioner for Great Britain.
“It is an honour to welcome Beverley Bell as SOE Patron,” comments SOE managing director Ian Chisholm.
“Her impressive background in ensuring standards and compliance will help ensure the SOE’s continuing growth, further our aim of promoting and professionalising operations engineering, and continue the tremendous work that Sir Moir has done for the Society.”
During his time as SOE patron, Sir Moir championed significant developments, including: the appointment of an international representative to support SOE’s growth; new irtec accreditation for LCVs; and the refurbishment of SOE’s London HQ.
“On behalf of SOE ... I would like to personally thank Sir Moir for his valued input over the past three years,” states SOE president Shaun Stephenson.
“He will continue his work with SOE’s leadership team to advise the society on its continuing growth.
“SOE is now entering a new chapter in its development, and Beverley will bring tremendous experience and energy to our organisation. I am personally very excited about working with her.”
Adam Baker has been crowned DAF European Technician of the Year 2016. Baker works at the Chassis-Cab Truck Centre dealership, in Ipswich, and prevailed against his counterparts from across Europe in the finals at DAF Trucks in Eindhoven.
The trophy was presented by Johan Drenth, after sales director of DAF Trucks in Europe. “The European Technician of the Year competition ... is a recognition of the profession,” he says.
“Modern trucks are high-tech vehicles and a broad and deep technical knowledge is required to be able to work on them. In addition, the technician is the business card in the workshop of the DAF dealer, and he or she plays an important role when it comes to customer satisfaction.”
ATS Euromaster has appointed Jerome Monsaingeon as managing director. He joins ATS after 36 years in managerial roles in Michelin across the globe, most recently as managing director of SMPT, a Michelin subsidiary based in Singapore.
Monsaingeon also oversaw supply chain change management for Europe and served as Michelin world key account manager with Peugeot-Citroën. Previous positions also encompassed managerial roles in Europe and the Far East, including Japan, Thailand and Hong Kong.
Andy Turner has been promoted to national fleet manager for Scania (GB), in the organisation’s the fleet and specialist vehicles sales department, with immediate effect.
He is now responsible for growing Scania’s UK fleet and municipal vehicle sales and developing and maintaining relationships with key clients nationwide.
Turner was formerly a national accounts manager working in Scania’s aftersales area. With a solid background in commercial vehicle engineering, he brings additional expertise and knowledge to the sales team.
Malcolm Shepherd CBE has retired as chief executive of Sustrans after 21 years of service, with eight of those as chief executive.
Xavier Brice, who has considerable experience in public transport, having worked for the past 10 years in Transport for London, now takes up the mantel of chief executive in June 2016.
Dearman, which styles itself as the clean cold technology company, has appointed two new senior engineers to roles supporting upcoming commercial vehicle field trials.
Simon Mansfield is the new head of operations, having previously worked with UNATRAC, where he oversaw power generation projects through the Middle East and Africa.
Colin Bennett is Dearman’s new chief engineer for field trials, joining the comapny from Ricardo UK where he led on a range of large-scale international programmes. He previously worked on low-carbon technology projects with Ceres Power and Intelligent Energy.
Graham Belgum has been appointed president of Optare Group, taking on the strategic and operational leadership role and reporting to head of global bus at Ashok Leyland.
Belgum joined Optare in March 2015 as business process excellence and aftermarket director. Since then, he has been instrumental in delivering a series of improvements focusing on customer support and manufacturing.
He is a Chartered Engineer with 30 years’ experience in the design, development and operational support of vehicles. For the last decade he has worked primarily in the bus industry leading operators through transformation and improvement.
Comm.ercial vehicles bodybuilder Bevan Group has begun its 40th anniversary year by promoting two members of its core team.
Roy Shelton becomes sales director while Claudia Spencer becomes the company’s first customer care manager. Both are now responsible for selling and supporting the products and services of the entire Bevan Group, and not only its bodybuilding activities.
Last year Bevan acquired the former Stag Bodies, based in Stone, Staffordshire, and formed a new division, Bevan Specialist Products, specialising in tippers and traffic management vehicles.
This followed the acquisitions in 2010 of PG Reeves, a manufacturer of vehicle bodies for the drinks industry, and in 2014 of Supertrucks, a leading builder of glass carrying transport systems.
Bevan has also entered strategic partnerships with crane manufacturer HMF and temperature-controlled vehicle manufacturer Schmitz Cargobull, acquired a shareholding in accident repair and refurbishment specialist A&R Vehicle Services, and introduced Graphics and Passport (Whole Vehicle Type Approval) operations, while continuing to invest heavily in the expansion of its Aftercare division.
Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles has boosted its fleet team with the addition of a new key account manager, David Robertson. He will work alongside Toni Ward who joined the brand as key account manager in October 2015, reporting to the Volkswagen’s national fleet manager, Tracey Perry.
Robertson joins Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles from Fiat Group, where he moved from the passenger cars division to the CV brand in February 2013 as key account manager.
David Hill has been appointed commercial vehicle editor to further strengthen the valuations team at Glass’s. He has more than 30 years of experience in the motor industry, being part of the sales department at dealerships selling LCVs and HGVs for manufacturers including Ford, Renault, LDV, and Isuzu Trucks.
He was also senior editor of CAP Red Book and, most recently, worked for CDL on data products.
At Glass’s he will be part of a three strong commercial vehicle team whose responsibility is to research all aspects of that market to produce accurate and reliable data alongside insightful comment on key trends and developments.
Graham Palin has been appointed as the new head of central operations at Autoglass. He will lead all centrally managed operational teams at the vehicle glass repair and replacement specialist, including its three service delivery centres and network of district support teams.
He will also play a key part in Autoglass’s delivery of the ADAS (advanced driver assistance system) technical solution – widely seen as one of the fastest growing segments in automotive electronics.
A three month trial at oil blender Morris Lubricants has developed into a career for Stuart Holloway, who is now celebrating 25 years at the Shrewsbury company.
When he began his career at Morris Lubricants, working in the accounts department with John Goddard, his mum Edna was working in the sales office.
A quarter of a century later, after gaining experience as a product planner and working with sister company Morris Leisure, he is now the company’s customer services manager.