EV surge drives fall in lease car CO2 emissions

Movers and Shakers

Changes in the top team

The BVRLA has restructured its senior management team, with two of its long-serving members of staff taking on new director-level responsibilities.

Toby Poston, the former Director of Communications and External Relations, has been promoted to the role of Director of Corporate Affairs.

Toby joined the BVRLA in 2008 and has been a director since 2013. He will continue to take responsibility for the BVRLA’s communications and research activities and he will now also oversee the association’s policy work, government engagement and events.

Joining the top team

Shashi Maharaj has joined the BVRLA as Director of Legal & Membership.

Former BMW Financial Services Head of Strategy, Shashi, joins the BVRLA to lead the association’s governance, compliance and membership functions. He has previously spent over twenty years with BMW in a variety of senior legal, strategy and compliance roles, more recently been responsible for governance and compliance in the UK and Ireland.

Amanda Brandon has been appointed as Director of Fleet Services.

In this new role she will lead the association’s government-approved Dispute Resolution Service and the provision of operational support to members – promoting best practice and raising standards across the industry. Formerly Head of Operations, Amanda joined the BVRLA in 2002 as Legal Services Administrator.

Management of the BVRLA Fair Wear and Tear Guides, Vehicle on hire certificates (VE103), the BVRLA Vehicle Mileage Database and the BVRLA RISC Database will all fall under her remit. She will also lead the relationship with the Department for Transport, Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency and the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency on operational matters. u

Staff highly rate the BVRLA as a good place to work “Gallop Q12 Engagement Survey” December 2019

New starters

Mark Pow joins the BVRLA as Head of Learning & Development, responsible for leading the association’s formal training, e-learning and accreditation programmes.

Mark has spent 22 years at Europcar in a variety of roles from Learning & Development to Sales, and Customer Service, working closely with operators of all sizes from small retail desks to large airports. Reaching Director level, Mark has extensive experience at creating and developing a blended learning approach to support business growth and continuous improvement.

Thomas McLennan joins the BVRLA as Senior Policy Advisor, leading on tax and motor finance policy and engagement.

Having spent four years at the National Franchised Dealer Association working on a variety of policy, public affairs and operations issues, Thomas has a strong track record of engaging with policymakers and industry stakeholders. He has also project managed some ground-breaking electric vehicle-related initiatives for the automotive retail sector.

Maya Thomson joins the BVRLA as Senior Digital Officer, delivering the association’s digital engagement work focusing on the BVRLA website and email system.

Having spent 10 years in marketing, Maya joins the BVRLA from international construction equipment firm, Kubota where she worked in their UK digital marketing team. She has also worked in a variety of marketing and database administrator roles in the Pharma and tool manufacturing sectors. u