People news: New CEO at Bentley, exits from trade bodies

A host of industry movements announced this week include a new boss at Bentley Motors and the forthcoming departures of the leaders of two industry trade bodies.

Bentley has announced its new chief executive will be Frank-Steffen Walliser, who takes over as brand boss for the Crewe-based luxury carmaker on July 1 after the exit of Adrian Hallmark who jumped ship to join rival Aston Martin.

Walliser has been at Porsche since 1995 in a variety of roles, including head of Porsche Motorsport for a number of years.

He said: "I am approaching this job with great respect and looking forward to having a team in Crewe that has shown impressive performance over the last few years. The continuing transformation of the automotive industry will be a major task for Bentley as well, a task that I am happy to take on with the team.

"I am convinced Bentley will continue to set standards in the luxury segment in the future."

After 11 years as chief executive of the British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association (BVRLA) Gerry Keaney has announced he is retiring, stepping down from his role at the end of 2024.

Under his tenure, BVRLA membership numbers have expanded by more than 50% to more than 1,000 organisations, and a particular success during Keaney’s tenure has been in the leasing broker sector, with more than 320 members and with an industry leading compliance programme.

The Scottish Motor Trade Association (SMTA) is recruiting a new chief executive after Sandy Burgess announced that he intends to stand down from the post at the end of 2024.

He intends to become more involved in his own businesses, which include a small used car operation in Scotland plus a commercial property business and a travel agency, and he will also offer consultancy services to automotive SMEs in Scotland to help them adapt to ongoing changes in the sector.

Burgess has worked in the motor sector for over 50 years, starting as an apprentice and building used car businesses, and he received the IMI’s Contribution to the Motor Industry Award in 2011 in honour of his commitment to the sector.

At one point he ran six dealerships representing Ford and Peugeot across Dumfries and Galloway, which he sold to the GK Group in 2002.

Former Citroen UK managing director Karl Howkins has joined the automotive software firm Tomorrow's Journey as a consulting director, his first role since leaving Cambria Automobile's leasing business Sogo Mobility.

Howkins will advise the firm, chaired by former Vauxhall and JLR executive David Betteley, on accelerating its growth in the UK market to support OEMs with full-service automotive software, from subscription services to test drive management - its customer base includes Hyundai, Al-Futtaim and Gridserve.