Industry jobs: Roles filled at Cox Automotive, Motability Operations, Abax, Ryze and Rightcharge

Cox Automotive appoints Stuart Perham

Cox Automotive Europe has appointed Stuart Perham to the role of chief information officer.

He joins from Rivus Fleet Solutions, where he served as chief technology and information officer. His experience also includes technology roles with Kia Europe, Inchcape Fleet Solutions and BCA Marketplace.

He will report to Mitch Gersten, chief information officer for Cox Automotive Global, with a dotted line to Martin Forbes, president of Cox Automotive International. He will also join Forbes’ European leadership team. 

Forbes said: “As we continue to evolve and transform our digital capabilities, products and services, it’s essential we have a proven, visionary and experienced leader at the helm.

“Stuart has extensive experience in leading large technology teams, change management, software development, and commercialising digital and data services.

“He is a fantastic addition to our European leadership team and I’m excited about where he will take our business in the coming months and years.”

Perham added: “There are tremendous opportunities around the data we capture. I’m very happy to be here and looking forward to making my mark.”

Motability Operations appoints Tim Harris as insurance director

Motability Operations has named Tim Harris as its new insurance director, responsible for the insurance activity of more than 700,000 customers on the Motability Scheme, as well as the company’s captive, MO Reinsurance.

Harris will be starting his new position in October.

He said: “I’m thrilled to be joining Motability Operations and to begin this role at such a customer-centred organisation.

“I am looking forward to joining such a purpose-led business and am confident the insurance activities will continue to go from strength to strength over the coming years.”

Andrew Miller, chief executive of Motability Operations, added: “We know the Motability Scheme can be life-changing, and we know how important the worry-free package that comes with every lease is to our customers. Having insurance for three named drivers is a crucial part of the service.

“Tim’s appointment ensures a core focus on our insurance function and will make sure we continue to develop and meet the needs of our customers in this area.”

Harris has previously worked in a number of senior executive positions in the insurance industry including with Aviva, as chief financial officer of Direct Line Group, Group chief financial officer and Deputy CEO of Royal London and Group chief financial officer of Torus Insurance. 

In addition to his responsibilities at Motability Operations, he is an independent non-Executive director at Phoenix Life and Hiscox Syndicates.

Earlier this month, Motability Operations migrated its insurance provision to Direct Line Group (DLG). Just over 700,000 customer insurance records were transferred to DLG to provide the insurance for Motability Scheme vehicles.

The transition brings further benefits to the company’s customers, including access to specialist repairers and improved application and digital processes.

Abax UK appoints new commercial director

Telematics company Abax has today announced the appointment of Bart Claes to the interim role of commercial director for Abax UK.

Claes already holds the role of commercial director for Belgium and Netherlands, which he will retain.

In his new role, Claes will lead and oversee the UK business’s operations.

The UK is one of the largest territories in the Abax Group, and Abax UK has seen significant growth, having successfully helped clients to optimise their operations through fleet and machine telematics.

For the first half of 2023, Abax UK announced growth of 26% compared with the same period last year, helping the wider business to perform ahead of expectations.

Bart will take over from Craig Allen, who held the dual role of commercial director and business development director.

Allen will now be fully focused on driving business development, creating new partnerships and scalable programmes across the commercial organisation.

Erik Rehn, head of sales operations, said: “We are thrilled to welcome Bart Claes on board. His extensive experience and dynamic, people driven, leadership style make him exceptionally well-suited to propel our UK division to further heights.

“We are confident that Bart will be instrumental in solidifying our market presence and identifying new avenues of expansion in the region.”

Claes added: “I’m fortunate to be working with a great team of highly engaged commercial colleagues in the UK and I’m keen to help contribute to their already impressive achievements. I am committed to driving even greater success in this next chapter."

Catherine Sheridan joins Ryze to lead operations in Ireland

Ryze has appointed Catherine Sheridan as managing director of Ryze Ireland.

Her focus will be on the role of clean hydrogen in supporting Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland in meeting its net zero targets. 

Before joining Ryze Ireland, Ryze worked with public utilities and emerging green energy companies in engineering and management roles.

She was awarded a Bachelor of Engineering degree from University of Galway in 1998, a Master of Science degree from University College Cork in 2001, and titles of Chartered Engineer and Fellow from Engineers Ireland in 2009 and 2018, respectively. 

She said: “I am delighted and excited to be joining Ryze Ireland at such a significant moment for the hydrogen industry in the UK, across the island of Ireland and in Europe.

“Hydrogen is a significant factor in helping countries meet their net zero goals and I am looking forward to meeting with business leaders and government officials to talk about the role we can play.”

Jamie Burns, group chief financial officer, said: “We are delighted to welcome Catherine as the managing director of Ryze Ireland.

“There is a lot of good work already happening in the island of Ireland on net zero, and Catherine and Ryze Ireland are perfectly positioned to help organisations bring their plans to fruition.”

Rightcharge announces new appointments to board

Rightcharge has appointed David Betteley, Grethe Skundberg and Julia Stent to its board, to further accelerate its UK operations and set sights on international expansion.

Betteley joins Rightcharge as chair of the board. His previous roles include MD of Vauxhall Finance and Masterlease, senior VP for Toyota Financial Services and global financial services director for Jaguar Land Rover (JLR).

He maintains a strong connection with JLR as a pension scheme board member. He is also the chair at Tomorrows Journey (a vehicle subscription solution) and CrediCar (next generation financial services pre-validation platform) as well as maintaining his role as head of content for Asset Finance Connect.

Also joining the board are Skundberg, general partner at Link Capital, a clean energy venture capital fund and shareholder in Rightcharge, and Julia Stent, a start-up and scale-up leader.

Skundberg will contribute towards Rightcharge's growth, fundraising and internationalisation strategy. She currently sits on the board of the car-sharing business, HAYK, and chairs the Nomination Committee for Zaptec, a charge point manufacturer that Link Capital has supported from an early-stage business through to IPO.

Stent, meanwhile, is a highly experienced global scaling technology start-up advisor, who has been chosen to lead Rightcharge’s strategic development and commercial opportunities.

She acts as a board and C-suite advisor to Genie Ventures (a fast-growth performance marketing group), Mention Me (advocacy SaaS, that recently closed a $25m Series B round from Octopus Ventures), and Uniqodo (retail SaaS).

She was previously in the executive team at Uswitch (major utilities comparison), Top10 Hotels (global travel comparison) and Paws.com. 

Charlie Cook, CEO of Rightcharge, said: “As the world rapidly moves toward an increasingly electrified future, we continue to support our mission of simplifying the transition to an electric vehicle.

“We’re delighted to have David, Grethe and Julia join us - their outstanding combination of automotive, technology and climate-friendly business experience will further support our fantastic team.”