• DAVID Jamieson, Transport Minister, has announced the appointment of Nick Illsley as the new chief executive for Transport Direct, the UK's first national travel information service. Currently being developed, Transport Direct was first announced in the Government's 10-year Transport Plan in July 2000. When completed it will provide internet-based information on all aspects of public travel including bus and rail times, road journeys, maps and different journey options. Illsley has spent his entire career in the rail industry, most recently as chief executive of the National Rail Enquiry Service.

  • TWO new corporate sales regional managers have been appointed by BMW. They are Andrew Wady and Jonathan Billin. The team of 11 is headed by general manager, Bernard Bradley, who has been with BMW for six months. Wady joins BMW from Ford, where he was most recently corporate account manager. Billin was previously with contract hire and leasing company, LeasePlan UK, where he was account manager for four years.

  • NISSAN Finance (NFGB) has appointed Steve Gowler as managing director. He replaces Bill Honeyball who retired at the end of June. Gowler joined Nissan Finance in 1997 as commercial manager, and in 2000 was appointed director, operations and credit. Before joining NFGB he worked in the finance department of Nissan Motors managing the partnership with Lombard.

  • NICOLA Brookes has been appointed marketing co-ordinator with Lex Commercials in Halesowen. Brookes joins the LDV and DAF dealer from Think 3Dimension (Computer Aided Design) Distributors. She will report to general manager, Jeremy Morgan, and be responsible for co-ordinating sales support to the dealership's senior team managers as well as planning marketing initiatives and public relations.

  • INTERLEASING, the Birmingham-based fleet management firm, has appointed Robert Kingdom as managing director of its Private Label Leasing division, comprising Vauxhall MasterHire and Saab Contract Hire. Kingdom succeeds Howard Lago, who held the post on a temporary basis following the company's acquisition of Vauxhall MasterHire.

  • NYANS PR has appointed David Hemp as business development director. Nyans was set up six months ago by former Volvo Truck and Bus PR manager, Richard Smith, and is centrally located in Solihull. Clients come from both automotive and non-automotive sectors.