A new chief executive officer, chief commercial officer and chairman have been announced at Drive Software Solutions.

The shake-up of the senior management team by new owners, Viva Investment Partners (VIP), aims to give Drive the tech market know-how to position itself as the de facto platform of choice in cloud-enabled fleet management.

Richard Parris, chairman of Sabien Technology Group plc and CEO of Salt Cybersecurity, will become chairman of Drive, David King (pictured), who has built and exited successful technology firms for 20-plus years, has been named as the new CEO. 

Robert Gorby, meanwhile, has been named Drive’s new chief commercial officer, bringing 20 years of sales and marketing experience to the business.

The new team, says Drive, recognises the huge potential for the business, given the changes expected in mobility and fleet management, such as the growth in mobility as a service (MaaS) and autonomous vehicles.

New CEO King said: “I am very pleased to have the opportunity to lead a technology innovator like Drive, backed by such an experienced and engaged team of investors as Viva Investment Partners.”

READ MORE ABOUT THE NEW OWNER’S AMBITION FOR DRIVE IN THE LATEST DIGITAL EDITION OF FLEET NEWS

The new arrivals join Simon West-Oliver, strategic partnerships director, Dave Pegg, technical director and Stuart Newmarch, development director, with extensive experience in the fleet management market.

Parris, King and Gorby bring best practice and global networks in cloud services, telecoms and software as a service (SaaS) businesses to create a sales and marketing team equal to the business’s historical strengths in development and product, says Drive.

West-Oliver explained: “We now have the team in place to realise our core mantra of e-business, automation and advancing customer service. ODO allows us to bring the real underlying benefits of the wealth of Drive functionality in an agile market-relevant solution to a wider marketplace.”

Gorby added: “The industry is going through rapid transformation and disruption. Drive is a key enabler in this transformation and I’m excited to be part of a world class team who will shape the future of this industry.”

ODO, which was launched in 2018 and aimed at the SME fleet sector, provides non-expert users, such as business owners, human resource managers and finance directors, with an easy-to-manage solution for their vehicles and drivers, says Drive.

It has integrated and automated a number of the key service providers to allow smaller organisations to gain the benefits of vehicle management normally only experienced by larger fleet operators.

Dr René Eichenberger, chairman of Viva Investment Partners, who has joined the board of directors of Drive, said: “This is now a winning team. Drive is open for business.   The momentum is strong, and the opportunity in mobility tremendous.”

Hear from the CEO of Viva Investment Partners and ex-Dragon, Julie Meyer, on her plans for the business in an exclusive interview in the latest digital edition of Fleet News.

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