In her early years as a fleet manager, ACFO was Julie Jenner’s guiding light and saviour; now she’s arguably returned the favour with interest.

Without Jenner’s dogged determination, hard work and sharp wit, it’s difficult to believe the association would be as influential or relevant as it undoubtedly is today.

The 41-year-old association has the ear of senior politicians and civil servants within the Department for Transport, Treasury and HM Revenue & Customs and is increasingly able to influence policy.

But this success comes at a price: her role as chairman has become more demanding, exacerbated by the tax and legislation changes imposed on the sector.

Yet all ACFO board and national council members are volunteers; each has a full-time job to fill their working week.

And that includes Jenner, who has been a member of GE Capital’s Key Solutions consultancy team for the past eight years.

ACFO fills her evenings.

At one stage it filled her weekends, too. “At its worst, I was working 20-plus hours a week; now it’s seven to 10 hours per week,” Jenner says, although, mindful of her employers, she quickly adds: “But it’s never got in the way of work – I’ve never let my GE customers down.”

Fleet News: How did you first get involved in the fleet sector?

Julie Jenner: I was a PA at Homepride in 1991 and the personnel director told me to look after the company’s 60 cars.

It came under the responsibility of HR and they didn’t have a fleet manager. I was upset: I thought ‘I have short-hand skills, I can do the secretary’s job but I don’t have a clue about cars’.

Another fleet manager recommended I go and join ACFO and I thought I’d better find out more. And the more I got into it, the more I liked it.

And 21 years on, you are still in the fleet sector. What persuaded you to stay?

The turning point was going to Nokia in 1994 to look after its 120 cars. I was only meant to be a temp, but I was there as fleet manager until 2004. This was at the start of the telecoms boom.

At its height, Nokia’s fleet was 900 vehicles, but when I joined, it had no fleet policy; cars were signed off by HR with no restrictions as long as they didn’t stand out.

It was a steep learning curve but ACFO helped. It gave me confidence that I was doing the right things.

Fleet really gets to you and people tend to stay in the industry. Why? It’s unique, exciting and dynamic. Buying cars and dealing with drivers, you have to have the skills from every walk of life and cars are an emotive subject. Every day is different.

ACFO has clearly played a major role in your working life, culminating in becoming chairman in 2006. Why did you get involved and what changes have you seen over the years?

When I joined ACFO in 1991 I sat quietly at the back – I wouldn’t say boo to a goose.

As I learned I became more confident and became secretary of the East Anglia region, then regional chairman. I joined the board in 2003 and then I wanted to be the first female chairman so that’s what I aimed for, and became, in 2006.

It is a fun and interesting business that I enjoy being part of. I wanted to get more involved because I knew all of the people. It also builds credibility with the organisation you are working for.

Twenty years ago ACFO was full of fleet managers with lots of experience so I leaned from them.

But there were many more fleet managers around then. Now there are fewer dedicated fleet people and it has changed the dynamic: we used to have a room full of people who were there to contribute because they all understood the issues and they were all fully involved.

Now we have HR and finance people that aren’t fully trained in fleet management because it’s not their full-time job and they want to listen to others’ views. We have to impart the knowledge because they want to learn.

What persuaded you to switch from being a fleet manager to working for a leasing company?

I was made redundant from Nokia in 2004 and there weren’t any fleet manager jobs around.

I joined GE because it was the best way to utilise what I’d learned and still be a fleet manager – but for lots of companies .

It wasn’t an easy transition – I under-estimated how much easier it is to be a buyer than a supplier.

There was so much stuff I didn’t know because I didn’t need to know it, such as tax rules and write-down allowances, because the finance or leasing company handled it.

Now I have to know it in great detail. Because it’s a consultancy role at GE I still do fleet management – I’m an extension of the fleet department.

Fleet managers can join ACFO, the FTA and ICFM. Can the three trade bodies coexist?

There is a role for all three if they stick to what they know best. For the FTA it’s trucks and its van excellence programme and manuals, while ICFM is the training expert.

ACFO is the experts for cars and LCVs and we offer networking opportunities that are good value for the membership fee.

But it is time for a sea change at ACFO. We need to adjust the way we operate to ensure we optimise the benefits for members and we have to look at all the ways we can deliver our knowledge.

Unless we attract people that aren’t active full-time fleet managers to interact with us and justify their involvement, then we will struggle.

If you could change one thing about fleet, what would it be?

I would change the perception of a fleet manager role insofar as companies shouldn’t underestimate how important it is when it comes to legislation, the complicated nature of tax, CO2, corporate manslaughter – it’s too easily swept aside and not given the credit it deserves.

 

When Jenner joined the ACFO board, media reports at the time painted a picture of a faceless, hierarchical association that was in need of modernisation.

Jenner surrounded herself with a team of highly-respected fleet managers representing both car and  van fleets.

It is, she believes, one of her biggest achievements: “We have more fleet managers on the board than ever before offering their experience and knowledge – it’s changed the dynamics.”

Jenner also rebranded from the Association of Car Fleet Operators to the snappier acronym now used. It was, she says, to better reflect the membership, many of which operated vans as well as cars.

ACFO’s profile has arguably never been higher. “This is important as we deal with disjointed policy from government departments that often don’t understand the implications on the industry,” Jenner says.

“We are seen as a credible organisation representing the views of our members.”

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