Over 150 members and guests attended the 21st Institute of Car Fleet Management (ICFM) annual national members’ conference on ‘Leadership in Fleet Management’ held on November 12 at the Heritage Motor Centre, Gaydon. Guest speakers included Alec Stewart OBE and Adrian Moorhouse MBE.

The event was kindly hosted by Jaguar Land Rover and co-sponsored by FMG, the UK’s largest independent incident prevention and fleet management services provider. Conference support partners were Thrifty Car & Van Rental, AutoWindscreens and Fleet Hire.

Chairman of the ICFM, Roddy Graham declared: “This year’s conference on ‘Leadership in Fleet Management’ was an undoubted hit among delegates who attended. Without exception all those present not only went away with valuable insights and lessons learned but also highly motivated by our two guest speakers. Raising the fleet standard is our motto and the ICFM certainly delivered on its promises.”

Opening proceedings, Chris Newitt, Jaguar Land Rover UK sales director, delivered an informative insight into the group’s progress under Tata ownership while John Catling, CEO of FMG outlined just what can be achieved through enlightened leadership.

In the morning debate on ‘Leading Technology in Fleet’, moderated by ICFM director and treasurer, Peter Eldridge, Bob Holbrey, group IT director at FMG Limited; Olly Macé, head of global strategy and external affairs for BP Biofuels; Martin Evans, managing director of Jaama Limited; Darren Lindsey, head of government & public affairs, Michelin PLC and Mike Bell, global connected car director, at Jaguar Land Rover provided their views on how technology will impact the future of fleet management.

Olly Macé described the future potential of isobutanol as an alternative vehicle fuel while Darren Lindsey drew attention to the impending population explosion in the UK due to aging and immigration which would impact urbanisation and travel. Bob Holbrey felt strongly that rather than spend a minimum of £42.6bn on HS2, half the money would be better invested in delivering super high speed broadband to every household in the country to change the way we work.

Martin Evans underlined the future role of technology in fleet management while Mike Bell highlighted the future role of telematics in all Jaguars. It is estimated by 2020, 50m cars will have embedded telematics technology.

Alec Stewart OBE was the first afternoon guest speaker. Alec is former captain of the England cricket team, the most capped English cricketer of all time in Test matches and 2nd most capped in One Day Internationals. Alec delivered a stirring speech on the importance of teamwork in delivering top performance in business as well as sport. Afterwards, he presented certificates to members who had successfully completed their Introductory Certificate, Certificate and Diploma in Car Fleet Management. 2013 saw one of the best years for ICFM training with 36 student, 182 Fast Track, 48 Diploma and 76 BVRLA participants undergoing training.

Rounding off the day, Adrian Moorhouse MBE, former British swimmer and winner of the 100m Breaststroke gold medal at the Seoul Olympics and managing director of Lane 4, a leader in the field of human performance, delivered a thought-provoking presentation on ‘Leadership in Learning and Development’. He left delegates in no doubt about their true potential.