Speakers

Declan Curry is the Business Presenter for "Breakfast" on BBC One and BBC News 24, the UK's most-watched morning news programme. He reports each weekday morning from the studios of the London Stock Exchange or from locations around the UK. He covers business, the economy, share markets, the workplace and personal finance. 

He has interviewed everyone from the chief executives of BT, Shell, Sainsbury and Marks & Spencer through to Bob the Builder, a Sir Francis Drake impersonator and a dog that's been trained to use a fax machine.

He has been a business presenter with BBC News 24 since the channel's launch in 1997. Before that, he presented BBC Radio 5 Live's early morning business programme, "Wake up to Money", and produced and reported for a range of programmes, including Radio 4's "Moneybox" and "World Business Report" on BBC World Service.

He speaks at conferences, industry dinners and charity functions. Recent events include the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce annual dinner, the Alliance for Finance pensions conference and the Engineering Employers Federation "Year in Industry" initiative. 

Harry has been a broadcaster for 28 years, fronting many programmes and covering numerous sporting events for the BBC.

Since the Seoul Games in 1988, he has been a member of the BBC Olympic team and has also been awarded two Royal Television Society Awards for sport documentaries.

A seasoned news presenter, Harry is well-known as a host of the BBC's ‘Look North’ programme.

In 2002, he won the BT News Presenter of the Year, North of England award.

Alix Weekes is a Research Engineer in the Crash Department at Thatcham, the Motor Insurance Repair Research Centre in the UK. She is involved with research projects investigating whiplash, and injury claims. She is also responsible for research on Primary Safety systems on the vehicle fleet and their potential benefit to controlling insurance costs. 

Alix joined Thatcham in 2005 following a year long secondment from Loughborough University, where she worked as a Research Associate on the EPSRC funded “Automotive Design: Incorporating the Needs of Pregnant Women” project based in the Department of Computer Science at Loughborough University, UK. Alix graduated with honours from the Manufacturing Engineering department at Loughborough University in 2001 from the Product Design and Manufacture BEng programme.

Andy is one of Europe’s leading specialists in work-related road risk management, and helps Zurich’s customers fully understand the risks they face, meet their health and safety obligations and sustainably reduce their collision rates across Europe and beyond.

Andy graduated from the University of Southampton in 1984 with a B.Sc. in chemistry. He has worked in various technical and marketing positions within Permabond, an ICI subsidiary, where he was given responsibility for managing the safety of the company’s European vehicle fleet in the early 1990’s. This ultimately led to Permabond being recognised as having one of the safest fleets in the UK. Andy’s work at Permabond was recognised in both 1999 and 2000 when he won the Fleet News Risk Management award.

Andy’s personal commitment to safe driving was commended in the late 1990’s when he was twice an individual finalist in The Times / Lease Plan Company Car Driver of the year competition, and was a member of the winning team when the competition was last held in 1998.
 

Chris is a Senior Consultant with Lex Momentum Consultancy Services the independent consulting arm of Lex. Lex Momentum provides specialist strategic consultancy support covering all the key elements of fleet vehicle operations. 

Chris has been a Fleet Management Consultant for over 12 years, as well as a freelance journalist in the fleet and motoring press. He specialises in Duty of Care and environmental fleet management but also has a proven track record for increasing the operational efficiency of fleets and identifying significant cost savings.

Combining his knowledge of environmental fleet operations and taxation has provided clients with a “win win” situation regarding cleaner more efficient fleet operations and reduced operating costs. He was heavily involved in the consultation process with Inland Revenue when company car tax moved from mileage thresholds to the CO2 emissions scale, and with the DVLA regarding Graduated VED.

Research, Analysis and Audit Manager Colin Whelan was key in the development of Market Value Manager, CAP’s total loss claim motor insurance solution, which drills deeper into the factors influencing vehicle values than any other system in the industry. He now heads the research and analysis team, ensuring CAP maintains the unrivalled depth and breadth of hard data which underpins the Black Book pricing process.

Colin’s career, prior to joining CAP, was spent in a range of operations management roles in the high street retail sector, specifically focusing on change management and process re-engineering. He joined CAP two and a half years ago after ten years with Green Flag in the UK and France where he worked as Customer Service Manager. His specialist knowledge of database management has been instrumental in developing increasingly robust processes for CAP’s research and analysis systems

I joined Integral Jan 2006, prior to this I worked for Leasing Companies and a Vehicle manufacturer. 

Integral are a building services company offering a one stop shop for all building needs. Integral employs over 2500 people throughout the UK. We operate a Fleet of 1500 vehicles which is a mixture of Cars and LCV’s.

Joined Army as a mechanic in 1977 and served mainly in Germany during the Cold War serving 10 years

Joined Kent Police 1988 and was committed to General Policing until 1992 when I started with Traffic Policing.

Transferred to the Traffic department in 1997 and became a Forensic Collision Investigator in 2001.
 

WSP are Consulting Engineers with over 2,500 employees in the UK and I joined them as their Group Fleet Manager in 1999. They have 623 cars including 12 vans plus 315 ‘cash for car’ takers.

I am an active member of ACFO and am their Secretary in the North West Region

Prior to joining WSP I worked with KPMG looking after their North West car fleet. Subsequently, I undertook various consultancy projects reviewing their client’s car fleet operations.

13 years in an Armoured Regiment, in the Army. Qualified as a Vehicle Mechanic. Then spent 10 years as Fleet Manager for Virgin Records and the EMI Group Plc. Have been at Clear Channel UK Ltd, a part of the largest Outdoor Advertising Company in the World, for seven years. 

Managing 550 company vehicles, ranging from cars and light commercials, to HGVs, motorcycles and Fork trucks. Our current fleet consists of 330 LPG light commercials and cars and 30 Honda Civic hybrid cars.

Graham is a Road Safety Consultant; now devoting most of his time as Secretary of AIRSO, a role he has undertaken since 1991. He also acts as Secretary for the Institute of Large Goods Vehicle Driving Instructors. He is an experienced Road Safety Practitioner starting this career with Worthing Borough Council in 1974 having left the Health Service upon one its earlier re-organisations. In 1984 he moved to West Sussex County Council where he became Senior Road Safety Officer with specific responsibilities for Education Development. He was appointed County Road Safety Officer for Northamptonshire in 1989 a post, which he held until May 2001 before joining the Institute of Advanced Motorists as Head of Road Safety until the end of 2003. He is qualified to teach at both Further and Adult Education Centres 

He is Vice Chairman of the UK National Road Safety Committee, a member of the Prince Michael Road Safety Awards Advisory Panel, the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety including being a Member of their Road User Behaviour Working Group and is a member of the Steering Committee set up to develop the Work Related Champions Programme. He is also the Road Safety Adviser to the ADI/NJC (Approved Driving Instructors/National Joint Council. In addition he is an Honorary Life Member of the Association of Industrial Road Safety Officers, Honorary Member of the Institute of Large Goods Vehicle Driving Instructors, a Member of the Institute of Master Tutors of Driving and a Fellow of the Institute of Road Safety Officers. He has been Vice Chairman of the Local Authority Road Safety Officers Association and is a past Secretary of the Association of National Driver Improvement Scheme Providers. He was honoured by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents in 2004 with an Award for Distinguished Service in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the cause of road safety.

John is an Associate Director with Lex Momentum Consultancy Services the independent consulting arm of Lex. John and his team of professional colleagues provide specialist consultancy support to some of the UK’s largest fleets – both public and private sector. 

John is a past winner of a number of the UK’s highest fleet awards - Fleet News UK Fleet of the Year for 2004 and 2005, Environmental and Sustainable Fleet of the Year 2004 and GreenFleet Fleet Manager of the Year 2005. John is highly experienced in fleet strategy and operations. He has a proven track record of delivering sustained business change from fleet, making efficiency savings, driving down costs and improving service levels.

He is a member of the Council of the Institute of Car Fleet Management, the UK’s leading training provider for fleet professionals. John is also an expert in developing environmental fleet strategies and is a member of the influential Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership, which advises the UK government on environmental transport policy issues.

Karl is a Fleet Consultant at The Energy Saving Trust where he advises organisations on improving the efficiency of fleet operations while lowering environmental impact and fuel cost. This is focussed on consulting via the Green Fleet Review programme.

After graduating in economics, Karl spent 20 years in sales, marketing and management roles in the motor vehicle industry in the UK and overseas, working for both vehicle manufacturers and major dealer groups.

He joined the EST last year from General Motors where he spent 2 years as part of the GM Future Strategy team followed by 7 years within the Vauxhall and Saab Fleet operation.

Les Owen joined the Metropolitan police gaining a wide range of experience including managing murder investigations. This experience, coupled with management qualifications saw Les promoted to Chief Superintendent, and then OCU commander Traffic Division. Les has investigated fatal road traffic collisions and as head of traffic was responsible for the police department with the task of reducing deaths on the roads. The introduction nationally of the Road Death Investigation Manual (RDIM) has assisted police forces to develop a more effective professionalism in fatal collision investigation. With extensive experience of RDIM requirements, it became apparent to Les that the fleet industry could benefit enormously by this additional information. 

Les was asked to join Fleet Risk Profiler – a strategic fleet risk management consultancy that has developed a unique fleet risk management system to reduce fleet and related risks for fleet operators and fleet users. The Profiler identifies and assesses an organisation’s risk profile using sixteen different risk factors. Risk managing status is then identified using a unique method of analysing data sets around risk elements. Les has used his extensive experience and operations management knowledge to assist in the final development of the Profiler which he knows offers organisations the opportunity to improve operational efficiencies, reduce risks and costs and ultimately reduce the risk of collisions and deaths on the road. 

Lesley joined Thatcham, the Motor Insurance Repair Research Centre in September 1993 to set up the Sales Team. Over time the role developed and with Thatcham’s profile and influence becoming wider in the insurance and motor industries, communications was added to Lesley’s area of responsibility. In 2003 she was named as Director of Communications.

Following Thatcham becoming a member of Euro NCAP in 2004 Lesley was appointed as Chairman of the Communication Group which advises the Secretariat on all matters relating to the promotion of the work undertaken by the organisation in driving forward vehicle safety.

Lesley is particularly interested in the positive promotion of the motor industry and consequently heavily involved with the drive for quality, safe crash repair and the implications for insurers, repairers, fleets and consumers.

Lesley belongs to the Chartered Institute of Marketing and is a Member of the Institute of the Motoring Industry.

In September 2002 Mark came to work for Leeds Metropolitan University as their Environmental Projects Manager. Working with purchasing and estates services teams he once again achieved the ISO 14001 certification and helped the university gain various national awards such as the Government Opportunities Sustainable Purchasing Award and the universities Green Gown Awards for sustainable purchasing and waste management.

Other responsibilities include; implementing and managing the universities 12 strands of its transport strategy, guest lectures on sustainability, chair of the Fairtrade steering group, advising the university on sustainable construction and gaining external funding for capital and refurbishment projects.

Outside of Leeds Met, Mark has chaired Business in the Communities environmental practitioner group in Yorkshire and Humber (2003-2005), project managed ‘The Universities that Count’ benchmarking project funded by HEFCE, sits on the Recycled Action Yorkshire steering group, is a member of the Environmental Association for Universities and Colleges and is an associate member of the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment.

Nick founded Provecta Car Plan in 1995 to help employers deliver flexible car benefit to employees in a way that is flexible, cost effective, accountable and legislatively robust. The company is now acknowledged as the UK’s leading provider of Employee Car Ownership schemes.

Before setting up Provecta, Nick spent ten years in the City, with the last three of these as Director of Swire Fraser Financial Management. Here he gained extensive knowledge of the financial markets and products, including car leasing.

In 2006 Nick founded and launched Greenstone Carbon Management, a company specialising in assisting major organisations reduce Carbon Emissions, particularly from travel and transport activities.

In May 2008, Provecta was acquired by Zenith Vehicle Contracts Limited, creating the UK’s largest independent fleet management company. Nick joined Zenith’s board as Group Development Director.

Nick lives in the Cotswolds with his wife and four children. His passion outside of the office is horse racing and Nick holds an Amateur Jump Jockey’s License.

As you're aware Nick Sutton couldn't attend the Hit For Six - Bradford Conference, so we've created a podcast for you hear what he has to say on the subject of The role of ECO Schemes in an effective vehicle policy: http://www.fleetnews.co.uk/podcasts/index.asp?d=3&m=10&y=2008

Nigel is Head of Transport Advice for the Energy Saving Trust with responsibility for providing support and advice to organisations to improve the efficiency of fleet operations and to create more sustainable travel. This includes delivery of the DfT funded consultancy programme, as well as EU sponsored projects to deliver greener transport. 

Prior to joining the Energy Saving Trust Nigel worked at Director level in the fleet industry advising a wide variety of organisations on issues ranging from alternative fuelled vehicles to managing business mileage.

Patrick has been with Zurich Financial Services for over twenty years, specialising in risk management. He has been involved with fleet risk management since the early 1990s when he worked exclusively with Local Authority customers.

Patrick is now a team leader and provides work-related road risk management advice to underwriters and consultancy services to a wide range of Zurich’s corporate customers both in the UK and mainland Europe.

Philip Igoe has a background in accountancy and has worked in community development projects in Yorkshire and Zimbabwe. He established a car club co-operative in Leeds 10 years ago and has worked at Carplus for the last five. He has, this year, led on the formation of Commonwheels Community Interest Company. The CIC aims to supplement the existing operators by establishing an accessible and affordable integrated network of car clubs across the UK through a combination of direct operations and through supporting community groups to set up schemes in their locality.

Carplus and Commonwheels have developed working models which enable car clubs to reduce the cost of pool and grey fleets to both large and small organisations.

Sandun is one of the founding partners of Corporate Car Club Limited established in 2007. They provide a pay-on-use fully managed pool car service where staff members can reserve the cars themselves on line and use a Key card to gain access to the vehicles. The rationale behind Corporate Car Club was to create a responsible alternative to business travel, driving down costs, tackling the issue of grey fleet and minimising risk around Corporate Manslaughter and Duty of Care. 

Sandun read Law at University before initially embarking upon a career as a solicitor. He soon moved into executive recruitment and for over a decade worked for Michael Page International where he was responsible for developing B2B partnerships with FTSE 300 companies for the ongoing provision of executive search, selection and development initiatives.

Simon Truelove has twelve years experience in industry covering business and sales management roles. Throughout this time he has worked across the retail and manufacturing sectors and, for the last several years, has been in laboratory services for the workplace. 

Simon has presented at a number of conferences to both the public and private sector on the advantages of Workplace Substance Misuse Policies and featured in many trade publication editorials on the subject.

Simon is responsible for the businesses growth and development of Grendonstar. As a specialist consultancy, Grendonstar has been providing employers with a single solution for managing adverse health caused by substance misuse in the workplace for the last ten years.

As General Manager of the company, he is also responsible for all operational aspects of the business as well as the management of services to external clients and the interaction between its laboratory businesses, JMJ Laboratories.