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A vision of Fleet Management in 2015

Our People

Leasedrive's executive board of Directors have extensive experience in leading innovative and dynamic businesses within the automotive industry. They are supported by an outstanding senior management team to drive real value for customers and shareholders and meet the Group's strategic objectives.

Executive Board

David BirdManaging Director

David Bird has unrivalled experience in successful business development and growth within the automotive finance and fleet management sector. This includes 25 years of mergers and acquisitions experience in key roles.

Since being appointed as managing director of Leasedrive, David has driven through an extraordinary period of growth which has seen the company move from 25th in the contract hire market to 11th. This growth has come both organically and as a result of the company’s joint venture with Investec, which resulted in Leasedrive taking over the running of the business of its much larger competitor, Masterlease UK.

In his earlier position as chief operating officer at Leasedrive Group Limited, David Bird was responsible for introducing Drive:Manager, the industry-leading totally integrated online fleet management system which has set new benchmark standards for operational and customer service quality in the industry. He also spearheaded the acquisition of Velo and led its subsequent successful absorption into the Leasedrive business. He was one of the members of the original Leasedrive BIMBO transaction team in 2003.

Prior to his time at Leasedrive, David was chief operating officer at Shell Auto Finance (SAF), where he developed a state-of-the-art fleet management system. Although on target for a promising launch, Shell Capital decided, given the changing world economic environment at the time, to pursue a different strategic direction and closed down the business.

Before joining SAF, David was chief operating officer of the UK’s largest fleet management company, Arval PHH. He was responsible for steering the company through a period of dramatic growth, including a major acquisition, before playing a key role in the disposal of the business, first to Avis Rent-A-Car Inc. and then to BNP Paribas. Transaction values over a three-year period were close to $3bn.

David has also held senior positions as finance director with Automotive Leasing and financial controller with Leaseplan.

A Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, David is also a member of the Association of Corporate Treasurers.

Roddy GrahamCommercial Director

Roddy Graham, a strategic business professional with extensive experience in the vehicle rental and leasing industry, is commercial director. His responsibilities include the group's account management, customer services and rental operations. Roddy is also chairman of the Institute of Car Fleet Management.

Prior to joining the Leasedrive BIMBO transaction team Roddy Graham was managing director of Budget Rent a Car UK. Originally appointed as sales and marketing director, he played a key role in the acquisition of two car rental companies.

Later, he led the purchase of seven licensee operations at a time when Budget was pursuing a business strategy of corporate-ownership. Roddy Graham joined Budget from Highway Vehicle Management where he held the position of sales director for six years.

Robert WhitrowChief Financial Officer

Robert Whitrow is responsible for financial operations and HR within Leasedrive and has unparalleled operational skills allied to expertise in mergers and acquisitions. In his former position as finance and commercial director at BT Fleet, he was responsible for the strategic evaluation of potentially outsourcing BT Fleet, which BT plc then retained, and subsequently grew to look after over 75,000 vehicles for a range of customers.

He was also involved with the radical restructure of BT Fleet to improve services and efficiencies and moved the business from a pure cost centre to aggressively pursuing profitable third party fleet business, thus reducing costs.

Previously Robert held the position of head of corporate finance at BT plc during which he acted as overall project director for one of the largest ever UK de-mergers, that of mmO2, BT's worldwide wireless business, valued at circa £7bn and preparing Yell as a standalone entity, initially for an IPO but subsequently for an eventual £2.1bn trade sale. He also advised on BT's £5.9bn rights issue in 2001.

Before joining BT, Robert worked in various positions at KPMG between 1985 and 1998, latterly as assistant director with KPMG Corporate Finance.

He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and Fellow of the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment.

Paul FlemingSales & Marketing Director

Paul Fleming is responsible for the group’s business development programme, sales and marketing. He has held senior board level positions for the past fifteen years. In his last corporate position he was chief executive officer of Alternatech Fuel Systems and before that, between 2004 and 2007, was managing director Europe for Britax Childcare, based in the UK and Germany. For four years earlier, he was with the Volkswagen group, firstly as chief executive for Europcar UK and then president of Volkswagen Brazil.

Between 1997 and 2000 Paul worked for Delphi Automotive Systems, the world’s largest automotive component supplier, firstly as country director in the UK and then sales, marketing and planning director in Germany. For seven years prior to that he held a number of positions with Breed Technologies Inc from UK operations manager to vice president, European sales and marketing.

An undergraduate trainee with Rover Cars he gained a BSc (Hons) in mechanical engineering at the University of Salford and became a chartered engineer (CEng) at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) in 1985.

A Fellow of the Society of Automotive Engineers (FSAE) in the UK, Paul is married with three children.

Senior Management Team
Senior Management Team

Sean FarrellDirector of Business Development

Sean Farrell joined Leasedrive from Travelex Global and Financial Services Limited, where he was partnership development manager. Sean spent eight years at Arval PHH Vehicle Solutions, first as an area sales manager and then as group account manager.

Previously, he held a number of sales positions with Pallas Rentals, Mercantile Credit Company and Joint Credit Card Company, having served as a senior commercial apprentice at British Aerospace.

Joe HowickRental Management Director

Joe Howick has been with Leasedrive since January 1996 when he joined as a regional sales manager having come from a construction company where he was sales director.

Before, he was sales manager with Wyatt & Son, formerly Prudential Property Services, for over six years. Before entering business, Joe was a full-time golfer and assistant golf professional.

Dominic MoranAccount Management Director

Dominic Moran was previously with Masterlease UK for 18 years and held the position of head of strategic and corporate accounts for five years. He joined Masterlease UK from a market research agency after gaining a Business Studies degree.

Within the sales division, he worked in business development, rising to become a business development manager before being appointed head of strategic accounts.

Executive Board