Industry jobs: Roles filled at TfL, Mercedes-Benz Trucks, Prestige Fleet Servicing, Indra and R2C Online

New senior leadership appointments at TfL

Transport for London (TfL) has confirmed new senior leadership appointments, including Rachel McLean as managing chief finance officer (CFO), following an open recruitment campaign.

McLean is currently CFO for Crossrail and finance director for operations, having re-joined TfL in January 2020 from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government where she was board member and the director general – chief financial officer.

Previously, McLean was director of planning, performance and finance at HMRC customer services and previously worked for TfL for nine years in senior asset management and finance roles.

Patrick Doig, who has led TfL’s finance team as the statutory CFO will resume his role as group finance director and will remain the statutory CFO.

It was recently announced that, with current commissioner Andy Byford’s departure later this month, Andy Lord will become commissioner on an interim basis from October 25.

TfL said an internal selection process has been underway to fill Andy Lord’s current role of chief operating officer (COO) on an interim basis.

Following this, Glynn Barton has been appointed as interim COO. Barton is currently TfL’s director of network management and resilience, responsible for the performance and management of the road network and TfL’s statutory duties. Barton has been at TfL for more than 21 years.

Byford added: "Rachel will be accountable for the overall TfL budget, funding and business enabling processes. She will drive cost efficiency across the entire organisation, including through supply chain transformation.

“Both Rachel and I also want to pay tribute to Patrick Doig, who has led our finance team brilliantly at such a pivotal moment for TfL and for London."

Lord said: “Glynn is an outstanding operational leader with a breadth of experience across TfL’s operations.”

Glynn will become interim COO on October 25, with McLean becoming CFO on October 31.

Debbie Fox appointed MD of R2C

Debbie Fox has been appointed as MD of R2C Online as the firm looks to develop its connected and digital solutions.

Fox joins from sister Fleetcor company Epyx, where she was commercial director, and replaces Tim Meadows, who has returned to Epyx as COO.

She has worked in the automotive industry for 35 years, in finance, leasing, data and software sectors and has spent the last few years at Epyx forming the firm’s strategic agenda and developing the connected vehicle initiatives the firm is bringing to market.

Fox added: “Having been through similar projects with Epyx and being part of the Fleetcor family I’m already familiar with many of the people and processes here, and very much looking forward to evolving our solutions in line with our customers pain points.”

In a separate move, R2C’s head of sales and customer success, Ash Connell, has been promoted to the newly created role of commercial director.

He has been with the company for four years and has also spent five years in several account management roles at sister company Epyx.

Prestige Fleet Servicing announces key hires   

Prestige Fleet Servicing, part of the AA, has announced three key appointments as it continues with ambitious plans to grow its SMR business.  

Mark Taylor joins Prestige as strategic account manager, bringing more than 30 years’ fleet experience to the business.

His career includes eight years as procurement manager in the UK nuclear industry, responsible for daily rental and company car fleet relationships and 16 years as a senior account manager at Lex Autolease, managing all Lloyds Banking Group relationships, OEM relationships for dealer introduced business and large corporate relationships. Plus, nine years as a strategic international account director for Athlon International, managing large multinational corporate clients’ mobility relationships throughout Europe.  

Larissa Thornhill who joined the Prestige team five years ago as an advisor has been promoted to the role of customer account manager, after progressing through the business as Smart Care team leader in 2019, supporting product development and implementation, and Smart Care manager taking care of operational support in 2020.  

Finally, Gavin Smith, who has spent two years in a sales role at Prestige has been promoted to strategic business development manager. With a career spanning numerous sales operations and training roles, he brings more than 15 years’ experience within the automotive and fleet industry.  

Prior to joining Prestige, Smith held the position of business development director at Europcar UK and has also worked for companies including AON and TWG (now Assurant) / RAC Warranty. In his new role, Smith will work closely with new and existing customers along with the senior leadership team reporting to Tony Murtagh, B2B director, to drive new business and strategic partnerships. 

Tony Murtagh, B2B director of Prestige Fleet Servicing, said: “These appointments bring considerable talent and experience to the team as we continue our growth journey at a pivotal and exciting time for the business.

"We have already made significant progress in growing our garage network and continue to invest in our products and services to meet the needs of our customers in a rapidly changing market.”  

Indra announces new CFO

Indra has appointed Anthony Jones as chief financial officer (CFO) at the company’s headquarters in Malvern, Worcestershire.

Jones has more than 25 years of financial operations experience spanning technology, fintech, robo-advice and renewables, having held director positions within organisations such as Wealth Wizards, ip.access and Sendo Mobile Phones.

Ady Moores, CEO at Indra, said: “Anthony will play a key role as Indra transitions to its next stage of corporate development and his diverse background in finance, capital markets, and technology applications, will play a key factor in our future growth and add invaluable strength to the company’s corporate governance initiatives.”

Mercedes-Benz Trucks appoints Stuart Jeggo as sales director

Stuart Jeggo has been promoted to the role of sales director at Mercedes-Benz Trucks UK.

As sales director, he will have oversight of all vehicle sales to operators across the Mercedes-Benz Trucks and FUSO Canter brands.

Jeggo joined Mercedes-Benz Trucks as business development manager in 2013 with responsibility for supporting the dealer network.

In 2016, Jeggo was promoted to the position of head of strategic accounts and municipal sales, then to head of key account management the following year.

Heiko Selzam, managing director at Mercedes-Benz Trucks UK, said: “Under Stuart’s leadership the key accounts team successfully changed the shape of our fleet business in the UK, encouraging growth through a clear strategy of building long-term, sustainable partnerships with our customers.

“By taking on the position of sales director, Stuart becomes the last piece of the jigsaw to round off our team of senior department heads.

“Along with customer service and parts director Can Balaban, and chief financial officer Rodrigo Landi, he’ll be responsible for creating and implementing the strategies that will drive our business forward.”

Heycar announce Karen Hilton as CEO

Heycar has promoted Karen Hilton, who joined the business in 2019, as chief commercial officer (CCO) to chief executive officer (CEO) following a six-month planned transition.

Mat Moakes, Heycar UK’s CEO from its launch in 2019, moves to a new role as CCO in Heycar Group. His remit is to create a more international organisation and grow the Heycar business across Europe.

Hilton has previously worked at automotive tech start-up business including Volkswagen, BMW, Carwow and Nested.

Karen Hilton, CEO at Heycar UK said: “We've established a formidable momentum in the UK, a super focused leadership team, and a great culture for our team. I look forward to steering this rocket ship through its next phase.

“In the three years we've been operating we've faced a pandemic, a structural change in the supply network, and now the UK faces the economic headwinds of a recession. So, if there's one challenge to expect from my role as CEO, I know it’ll be continuing to weather the ongoing uncertainty and ambiguity.”