Tusker appoints Carmichael as chief commercial officer

Tusker has secured another coup in the recruitment market by appointing Iain Carmichael, formerly fleet sales director of Audi UK, as its first chief commercial officer.

In a new role, Carmichael will be responsible for ensuring Tusker meets its planned expansion targets in terms of fleet growth in its chosen markets. The company currently has a fleet size of more than 10,750 vehicles.

Carmichael’s appointment follows that of another well-known fleet industry figure, Mark Sinclair, formerly director of Alphabet GB, as chief operating officer just over 12 months ago.

Reporting to chief executive David Hosking, Carmichael said he was excited to be joining Tusker and had been attracted by the profile of the business, its innovative nature and the dynamism of its management team.

“I’ve had 15 years in management at vehicle manufacturers, most recently at Audi and before that as sales director at Seat,” said Carmichael. “This role will be a new challenge, one that will stretch me personally and I’m delighted to be joining a vibrant, focussed and energised business like Tusker.

“It’s not quite my first move into the customer side of the business, as I worked in daily rental before joining Volkswagen Group, but it will certainly be my first move into the contract hire and leasing industry and there is definitely an element of poacher turned gamekeeper in my move.

“I’m joining Tusker at a very exciting stage in its development and at a time when I know that I can add real value to the business as it moves forward.

“My prime objective here is to facilitate the continued growth of the business. 

“Tusker is much more than a traditional contract hire and leasing company and I plan to build on our success in salary sacrifice in both the public and private sectors as well as focusing on our mainstream contract hire offering to maintain an appropriate balance between contract hire and salary sacrifice.”

Tusker is currently UK market leader in the provision of salary sacrifice cars with more than 120 live schemes in both private and public sectors, including National Grid, Telegraph Media Group, Northumbrian Water, Airbus, Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP, Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and North Yorkshire County Council.

The company recently moved into new, state-of-the-art, high-tech offices at Croxley Green Business Park, providing three times the area of its previous premises and capable of meeting the company’s rapid expansion needs.

Commenting on the new appointment, Tusker chief executive David Hosking said: “Iain brings a huge wealth of sales experience to Tusker at a time when we are developing very quickly as a business, and we are delighted to welcome him to the team.

“We confidently expect Iain to help further refine and develop our business to ensure that we continue to grow, both in the salary sacrifice and contract hire sides of the market, and to help us fulfil the demanding expansion targets that we have set for ourselves.”

Carmichael is married with two children, and is based in Towcester, Northamptonshire.