Top 50 Most Influential People in Motor Finance
This year’s Power 50 received more input than any previous year, with well over 1,100 people casting votes. As with the previous year’s Power 50, the list is split into the Top Ten, followed by the 11th to 50th. Motor Finance would like to thank everyone who participated.
Please Note: All entries are listed alphabetically
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Top 10
Carl Eccles, industry director, Zuto
After a shock absence from the Motor Finance Power 50 last year, Zuto’s Eccles returns to this year’s poll with a position in the top ten. A veteran at the online broker of eight years, Eccles is placed higher than both his chief executive officer and managing director in this year’s list.
Having won Intermediary of the Year at the inaugural Motor Finance Conference in 2015, Zuto underwent a rebrand from its original name ‘Car Loan 4U’ to its present name, and began to establish itself as a household name across the UK.
Ed Paulat, executive vice-president, GMAC
Paulat has been executive vice-president, UK, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Sweden at GM Financial since April 2013. Paulat has been voted in the Power 50 every year, with this being the second consecutive year he’s made the top 10. GMAC is playing a leading role in the development of Cardiff’s business community through taking part in initiatives such as the Wales Financial Services Graduate scheme and the Welsh Financial Services Employer board. GM Financial also won the ‘Captive Finance Company of the Year’ award at Motor Finance Awards 2015.
Greg Standing, partner, Gowling WLG
Standing, partner at Gowling WLG, specialises in the consumer, automotive and asset finance sectors. He has helped several clients launch new automotive finance businesses, advising on both pre- and post- contractual compliance. Standing is a regular contributor to Motor Finance, with legal pieces on the FCA and court cases. He has been named in every Motor Finance’s Power 50 since its inception in 2013, and his team was shortlisted for ‘Legal Provider of the Year’ award at the Motor Finance Awards 2015.
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By GlobalDataJo Jenner , MD, Mann Island Finance
Jenner has been the managing director of broker Mann Island Finance since April 2014, following its acquisition by challenger bank Investec. Jenner was directly responsible for leading the purchase process of this transaction. Before moving into the world of motor finance at Mann Island, Jenner spent 20 years working across a range of asset finance classes in companies including Investec, Citibank and Schroders.
Joe Crump, general manager, Honda FS
Crump has broad experience in accounting, treasury, auditing and financial management. He has been part of the Honda Finance Europe team for almost a decade, holding the managing director role since 2014. This is the first time Crump has climbed into the top 10, showing that he has quickly developed a strong reputation within the motor finance industry.
Louis Rix, director general, Carfinance247
One half of the Rix brothers who’ve been responsible for the rise of what is today one of the UK’s largest brokers, 2016 sees Louis Rix debut in the top 10 of the Motor Finance Power 50. While the broker has grown extremely rapidly in recent years, arguably the biggest piece of news to come out of Carfinance247 recently was that the Rix brothers purchased the Carcraft web domain in July 2015, and relaunched it in December. The Rix brothers already have experience in the online classified ads business, having established netcars.com in 2009. This became RACcars.co.uk following its sale to RAC in 2013.
Mark Carney, Governor, Bank of England
Appearing in the Motor Finance Power 50 top 10 for the second year in a row, Canadian Carney’s position as Governor of the Bank of England gives him great influence over whether interest rates are to change from the historic low at which they’ve been sitting for a number of years now. While conventional wisdom suggests a rise is inevitable at some point, a unanimous vote in February by BoE policy-makers suggested this won’t happen until at least 2018. Coincidently, when Carney took on the role, he indicated he intended to stand down in 2018 as well.
Mel Chell, partner, Shoosmiths
Having provided advice to key players in the motor finance industry as a partner at Shoosmiths, it’s unsurprising that Chell made it into the top 10. Career successes include acting for seven finance houses in the recovery of more than 60 motor vehicles with a combined worth of over £1m. Over the past year, Shoosmiths has won a number of awards, including the ‘Legal Provider of the Year’ at the Motor Finance Awards 2015. Chell was also listed in last years’ Motor Finance Power 50.
Mike Dennett, CEO, BMW FS
Dennett took over from Ian Smith as the head of BMW’s UK financial services offering in 2015, following a career which saw him work in Germany, South Africa, the Nordic region and Belgium. The past year saw BMW overtake Audi to become the UK’s fourth-largest car brand by volume, after double-digit growth, and Dennett will no doubt be looking at how BMW FS will be able to support the marque to build on this success.
Paul Harrison, head of motor finance, Auto Trader
Harrison is best known in the industry for at least two things. One is in his former role at the Finance & Leasing Association , where he headed the motor finance arm for a number of years. In this role he was instrumental in communicating both the incoming Financial Conduct Authority’s message to the industry, and trying to curb some of the FCA’s more outlandish suggestions. In his current role, Harrison is responsible for shaping what motor finance means for the UK’s largest vehicle classified site.
11-50
Adam Wonnacott, sales director, Burlington Group
Wonnacott has worked at Burlington Group since 2009, and has been sales manager since April 2012. 2015 saw Burlington Group acquired by judicial services group Marston Holdings for an undisclosed sum. This acquisition provided Burlington Group with the capital it needed to continue it’s recent growth.
Adrian Dally, head of motor finance, FLA
At the time of writing, Dally will be coming up to his one-year anniversary at the FLA. Before this, he spent 18 years working in Whitehall and Brussels, followed by nine years at the Financial Ombudsmen Service. Since joining the FLA, Dally has had to work hard to communicate to the FCA what his member companies are telling him, and help educate the member companies on what the FCA is doing.
Bob Jones, CEO, Blue Motor Finance
Having held executive positions in large finance organisations for decades, Jones is one of the most experienced chief executives in the motor finance industry. As a founder and chief executive of Blue Motor Finance, he has overlooked the growth of its loan book, which now exceeds £100m.
In 2014, Jones played a key role in the acquisition of Blue Motor Finance by private equity investor Cabot Square Capital, as the lender looked to gain the capital needed to continue its expansion.
David Mercer, MD, Next Gear Capital
Mercer joined NextGear Capital UK in 2013 after nine years working for Manheim where he most recently held the roles of group business services director and commercial director, continental Europe. He worked for Ford Credit between 1983 and 2003, holding various roles. Last year, NextGear Capital UK provided £100m of funding for used vehicles and entered the Irish market.
Doug Gillies, MD, Toyota FS
Gilles has been the head of Toyota Financial Services since 2009. Following an early career in banking, and various positions in corporate and motor finance with Lloyds Bowmaker, Gillies worked in the Lloyds Bowmaker/Toyota Finance joint venture before joining the newly formed Toyota Financial Services UK in 1998.
Gary Brown, head of automotive, Equifax
Brown joined Equifax after a number of years as business development director at LBM and Dun & Bradstreet. As the market has looked for ways to lend more money and grow in recent years, and more and more companies have begun looking to lend deeper into the credit curve, the role of credit bureaus such as Equifax has only become more important.
Graham Wheeler, joint MD, VWFS
Wheeler worked his way up through various roles at VWFS for over almost a decade when, in 2004, he became a managing director at the captive finance house, a position he continues to hold more than a decade later. Few years would have proved quite as challenging as 2015, however, after VW was found to have used ‘defeat devices’ in the US to manipulate emissions test results. Despite this, VWFS continues to be among the biggest finance houses in the UK, giving Wheeler enormous influence over the industry.
James Broadhead, MD, Close Brothers Motor Finance
As managing director of Close Brothers Motor Finance since the start of 2010, Broadhead has seen the company through the economic crash and into the growing industry it is today. Before his promotion to the top of Close, Broadhead was operations director at the independent lender for just over a decade. Close looks set to continue building on its previous success, with the launch of an expanded referral service, which launched at the start of 2016.
James Tew, CEO, iVendi
Since the beginning of the decade, Tew has been the chief executive officer at iVendi. He previously held executive roles at Fortuitus, Codeweavers and Jigsaw Finance. iVendi has more than 1,000 dealers using its technologies across the UK. Over the past year, it has introduced a finance product for non-FCA dealers and updated its dealer platform to bring in an in-showroom finance comparator.
James Wilkinson and Ryan Dignan, chief executive officer and managing director, Zuto
The founders and heads of online broker Zuto lead one of the largest brokers in the industry which, alongside Carfinance247, is looking to change how consumers buy their cars. April 2015 saw the broker win Motor Finance’s Intermediary of the Year award, as a result of its rapid growth levels and how it trained up its staff. The year also saw the company go through a major rebrand from Car Loan 4U to Zuto, which Wilkinson told Motor Finance was a result of the original name no longer fully describing all the services the company could provide.
Joanne Davis, Partner, Locke Lord
Davis’ experience at some of UK’s most reputable legal companies for the motor and asset finance industry make her a valuable asset in Locke Lord’s effort to grow its share in the market. A regular in the Power 50 list, Davis has assisted industry players with, among other things, FCA compliance, Consumer Credit Sourcebook implementation and motor finance asset recoveries. She joined Locke Lord this year as a partner in the London office and head of the asset, leasing and consumer finance division in the UK.
John Simpson, MD, Moneyway
Simpson has decades of experience in the motor industry and took over the role of managing director at Moneyway in 2014. He previously worked for Manheim, GE Capital and Black Horse. Over the past year he was involved in the company’s launch of a prime product and saw Moneyway’s team expanding after a number of appointments. Moneyway won the ‘Subprime Lender of the Year’ award at the Motor Finance Awards in 2015.
John Perez, partner, DWF
Perez is the head of DWF’s lender services division, leading a team in providing volume litigation, collections and recoveries support, as well as specialist defended litigation to motor finance and leasing companies. Prior to joining DWF in 2013, he worked for Chafes Solicitors for 16 years, with his latest role there being partner, head of litigation.
Juliana Francis, ombudsman, Financial Ombudsman Service
Appointed to her current role in 2005, Francis has been one of the key figures in dispute-resolution in the UK. Prior to this, she was the head of professional conduct at the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants. The FOS, apart from the PPI complaints which dominate its workload, has overseen and published a number of motor finance cases in the past year. Last year, the FCA made changes to the Dispute Resolution: Complaints Sourcebook (DISP), after consultation with the Financial Ombudsman Service.
Katherine Clark, solicitor, Weightmans
Clark has a history of advising motor finance companies. She regularly contributes to Motor Finance magazine and has written articles on FCA compliance, the Consumer Credit Act and vehicle recovery. Last summer, Ford & Warren and Weightmans merged following an agreement between the companies and they now operate under the Weightmans name.
Keith Charlton, director, Advantage Finance
Charlton has been director at Advantage Finance since it was founded in 1999 as a subsidiary of S&U Group, to service the subprime sector. Recent years have seen the company grow successfully, with gross receivables reaching £200m in the first half of 2015, for the first time. S&U has said the lender would receive £34m in investments following the sale of another S&U business.
Mark Standish, MD, MotoNovo
Several years of rapid growth and innovation under Standish’s leadership have left MotoNovo as the third-largest player in the independent motor finance market. Previously of Wagon Finance and Capital Bank, Standish has now led MotoNovo for over 15 years.
The past year has seen the lender really push technological boundaries, including the launch of a self-service product, designed to allow customers to complete their finance offers from their phones.
Matt Dyer, MD, Leaseplan UK
Dyer has been with LeasePlan for nearly two decades, having held a number of positions before becoming managing director in May 2014 as a replacement for David Brennan. He was managing director of LeasePlan International between 2004-2009. In his new role, Dyer heads up LeasePlan UK’s business, working closely with the leadership team at LeasePlan Corporation to continue the strategic growth across the business. This is the first time he has made it into the Power 50.
Michael Buxton, CEO, Manheim
As chief executive officer of Manheim UK, Buxton is responsible for the remarketing and retail services businesses. He moved into his current role in the autumn of 2014, during his 20th year with Manheim. Prior to his current role Buxton held a number of senior positions within the group, including chief operating officer and chief financial officer. This is the first year he has been included in the Power 50.
Mike Britton, director, Barclays Partner Finance
For the past four years Britton has been the head of the Barclays Partner Finance business. He was previously sales director at Close Brothers and director of personal and retail finance at Black Horse. Britton’s career also covers periods with Avco Financial and Standard Chartered. He has been involved in all aspects of consumer and point of sale finance having held roles in sales, operations, business development, collections and recoveries, credit and wholesale risk, product development, project management, CRM and strategy.
Oliver Mackaness and Gary Hill, director and sales director, Billing Finance
Two regulars in the Power 50, Mackaness and Hill run family-owned subprime finance provider Billing Finance. 2015 was a year of growth for the industry and Billing was no exception, with it looked to build on the revolving finance facility it secured towards the end of 2014. Thanks to a capable team, the company has managed to compete successfully with its competitors while maintaining its traditional, family-run structure.
Peter Minter, MD, MoneyBarn
Successive years of growth at Moneybarn resulted in a takeover by alternative loan provider Provident in August 2014, and since then the growth has continued. Minter has overseen much of this growth, having joined back when Moneybarn was known by its original name Duncton. The additional capital from the buyout has allowed Moneybarn to invest in new products, including an LCV product, and an upgrade to its Eclipse application management system.
Phill Jones, MD, Motors.co.uk
Jones was appointed to the head of online motor classified site Motors.co.uk in September, following five years at the company. Before becoming managing director, Jones was commercial director. Jones replaced Andy Coulthurst, who left the company to become chief executive officer at car supermarket, Trade Centre Wales.
Preston Rogers, general manager, BMW FS
An international BMW veteran, South African Rogers took over from Spencer Halil in July 2015, when Halil moved across to Alphera, following Andy Gruber’s departure from the business.
Rogers has been with BMW FS for 12 years, and before his current role heading BMW FS Group Brands in the UK he was general manager, sales and marketing, for BMW FS South Africa.
Reg Rix, managing director, Carfinance247
One half of the founding management team at Carfinance247 alongside Luis Rix, Reg Rix has been instrumental in establishing the online broker as one of the biggest intermediaries in the market, despite only being founded in 2006. The company recently revealed that it more than doubled the amount of business it did in 2015, and expected to do so again in 2016. While this growth has been going on, the Rix brothers have also relaunched the Carcraft brand, which they bought after it went bankrupt in 2015.
Richard Hoggart, MD, DSG
In October, DSG moved into new premises in order to cope with the size the company had grown to, following a sustained period of expansion. DSG has been around for over 25 years, and Hoggart is as important to the company today as he was in 1990. 2015 was another year of strong growth for the broker, whose innovative e-signature system remains one of its key selling points. The company ended the year with an announcement that Promethean Investments had acquired a stake in the business, pending regulatory approval.
Richard Jones, MD, Black Horse
A new entrant into the Power 50, Jones replaced Chris Sutton at the top of Black Horse when Sutton retired after a 28-year career at parent company Lloyds. While Jones is new to the list, he is an experienced pair of hand, having worked at Lloyds for over two decades as well. The biggest independent lender in the UK, Black Horse continued to post strong growth last year, and also launched its SignIt point of sale tool.
Richard Schooling, CEO, Alphabet
Schooling’s career has spanned finance, operations, sales and marketing in various industries settling into fleet management in 1986. He joined BMW Group in 1997 as a member of the initial management team that created Alphabet. In 2007 Schooling became chief operating officer of BMW Financial Services, before moving back to Alphabet as chief executive officer at the beginning of 2011. He was then responsible with integrating Alphabet with the newly acquired ING Car Lease. He has been in Power 50 every year since its inception.
Roland Schaack, MD, Codeweavers
With technology constantly evolving, being a managing director of a software provider for 15 years must be a different experience to similar roles in other fields. Codeweavers customers include BMW, Mini, Peugeot, Toyota, Volvo and Honda. Last November the company underwent a management buyout, with Schaack involved in the process.
Scott Behrens, MD, Superbike Factory
Behrens is a new entrant to the Power 50, and the motorcycle finance broker’s entry can be seen as industry recognition for the company’s recent growth. While the bike market is still relatively underserved by lenders, Behrens told Motor Finance last July that more and more companies were looking at this space.
Simon Shuttleworth, MD, Peak Collections
Shuttleworth has led Peak Collections for a number of years, and is one of the most experienced asset recovery experts in the industry. Insiders suggests this market is due to undergo a period of consolidation as a result of regulation from the FCA, and general industry trends, which may see Peak grow into some of the gaps left by former rivals.
Spencer Halil, director, Alphera FS
2016 saw Halil return to Alphera following a stint of nearly five years at BMW Group Brands, first in Australia and then in the UK. In his second stint at Motor Finance’s ‘Independent Lender of the Year 2015’, Halil has so far overseen the lender roll out its new business model and enhance its commercial finance package. In May, it also revealed it had seen a sharp rise in its premium offering.
Stephen Sklaroff, director general, FLA
The rise of the FCA has meant that having an association that understands the consumer credit industry is more important now than it was in the past. While the FCA may not be perfect in its current incarnation, it’s certainly more knowledgeable about the motor finance industry than it was even 12 months ago. Sklaroff, a former diplomat, has no doubt been extremely important in these conversations with the FCA.
Steve Gowler, MD, RCI FS
Gowler has been managing director of RCI Financial Services since July 2007. He’s also chief executive officer of the newly established RCI Bank, the UK savings bank of Renault Group’s captive finance house. Prior to this he was the managing director of Nissan Finance GB Limited since 2002, having previously held the commercial and operations director roles there. Gowler is a member of the FLA board.
Tarun Mistry, automotive advisory partner, Grant Thornton
2014 and 2015 were years that saw a large number of outside investors look to acquire a foothold in the market.
As retail registrations both grew and became more reliant on finance to shift stock, motor finance boomed. As one of the leading advisors in the field, it’s little surprise to see Tarun Mistry retain his place in the Power 50.
Tracey McDermott, acting chief executive, FCA
McDermott became FCA’s acting chief executive in September 2015. She has previously been director of supervision and authorisations and director of enforcement and financial crime. McDermott joined the FCA’s predecessor the Financial Services Authority in 2001. She qualified as a solicitor in 1995 and specialised in commercial litigation, working for law firms in the UK, US and Brussels. It’s unsurprising that McDermott made it into the Power 50, considering the impact the FCA has had on the market.
Trevor Finn, chief executive officer, Pendragon
A former mechanic, Finn has been with the UK largest dealer group since it was demerged from Williams Holdings in 1989. At the time, the operation consisted of 19 car dealerships, and in terms of scale, was a far cry from its current size. 2015 saw the company grow the profits from both used and new cars, as well as through aftersales services.
Vik Hill, MD, Santander Consumer Finance
Vik Hill is managing director of Santander Consumer Finance, the second-largest independent lender in the UK market. Before joining the Spanish bank, Hill was a manager at First National Motor, and before that a manager at Lombard Central. At the start of 2015, Santander launched a joint venture with Banque PSA Finance called PSA Finance UK, on a 50-50 basis.
