Speakers

Quentin’s career began respectably enough by studying English Literature under Philip Larkin, but after university he ‘went completely off the rails’ and started up a car dealership selling ancient Ferraris and Maseratis. Which is how he amassed his now famous knowledge of everything on four wheels and made him unique among motoring pundits. Quentin’s expertise is very real as he’s the only car commentator who has bought and sold literally thousands of cars. 

He first came to the public’s attention in the early nineties as deputy editor of the only magazine solely devoted to second hand motors, Buying Cars, and was soon poached by the BBC to co-host Top Gear with Jeremy Clarkson. His deep knowledge of the market changed the way British consumers bought used cars and caused most carmakers to regularly reach for their Valium. For a decade he appeared every week on Top Gear, routinely exposing shoddy service and poor product, educating car buyers on how to beat the system as well as pressurising the industry to lower new car prices in the UK.

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Andy Carroll joined Glasses in 2009 as Managing Director with a successful track record in the automotive sector for over twenty years. He has held senior Sales and Marketing positions at General Motors Europe in France, Switzerland, and Germany, before becoming Chief Operating Officer of the internet car retailer OneSwoop. Andy was Managing Director of GM Daewoo UK, and subsequently became Managing Director of Chevrolet in the UK. Andy was head of International Sales & Marketing at GAZ Group.
Andy has a Masters Degree in Manufacturing Engineering from Trinity Hall, Cambridge and an MBA from INSEAD.

Jay has been associated with the car industry since working for Porsche in the late 1980s.

Through the 1990s he worked as a consultant and industry commentator and set up his own consultancy, Spyder Redspy, in 1998.

With clients that include Audi, Hyundai, Toyota and Volvo plus dealer groups like Cambria, Hartwell and Inchcape, Redspy is a leading provider of data, analysis and forecasting both to car companies and to third parties who require industry expertise.

Redspy is also the sole content supplier to both the Fifth Gear and Autoblog UK websites and also built and maintains the global rallying website, www.wrc.com.

Douglas Rotberg, Managing Director of Tesco Cars, has over 40 years experience in the automotive industry, starting in 1969 as an apprentice at Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, rising to General Manager of Jack Barclay Service Centre, and then Managing Director of Douglas Daniels Limited, a Rolls-Royce and Bentley sales and service centre.

Douglas first entered the online automotive sector in 1997 with wife and business partner Karen Rotberg. Together they founded Auto-Online, a pioneering web-based trade-to-trade transactional trading platform, which allowed fleet disposers to side-step the traditional auction house model.

After selling the business in 2000, Douglas and Karen re-purchased Auto-Online in 2003, developing the software and business model from a B2B to a B2C platform, giving the retail public direct access to ex-fleet models through a new channel called Carsite.co.uk, which was launched in 2006. Over 10,000 cars were sold through Carsite in the five years before the site was re-launched as TescoCars.com in April 2011.

Craig Stevens joined Auto Trader in 1996, as General Manager for the National Magazine Division. In 2001, Craig became Managing Director of Ireland’s Auto Trader with overall responsibility for both the printed publication and www.autotrader.ie. 

Since joining Auto Trader, Craig’s role has also included New Media Director, with key responsibilities of managing all of the commercial activity for the UK’s New Media Division for Trader Media Group, which includes www.autotrader.co.uk and was instrumental in transforming Auto Trader from a magazine to the 7th largest digital brand in the UK today. Craig is also a Director for 2nd Byte, an acquired business for TMG which provides digital marketing solutions to manufacturers and dealers within the UK.

Craig, now Group Director Sales and Customer Service, is responsible for all sales and customer service functions across Trader Media Group. Craig has over 20 years experience in sales, digital marketing and publishing.

Mark King, started in the motor industry 1 week after leaving school! He now has over 20 years experience in the motor trade, mostly in the retail sales sector. 

In the last seven years he has been inspirational in the development of online sales within the industry.

He joined Benfield Motor Group in September 2007 as Internet Sales Controller and has since transformed the group’s sales and development through online innovation and development.

As a result Benfield recently received the first ever ‘five star’ rating in the Used Car Expert Award which recognises best sales practice, customer service and fairly priced stock.

In his present role as Group Digital Sales and Marketing Manager, Mark manages a growing internet sales team, driving enquiries from drivebenfield and affiliate sites and managing Benfield’s social media development and strategy.

Mark Hankey joined BCA in 1992, initially as Dealer Development Manager for the North & Scotland and since that time has held numerous positions in all market sectors for BCA, including National Sales Manager.

In 2005 he was appointed UK Sales Director, joining the BCA Board in November of that year.

Prior to joining BCA, he spent a number of years working within Blue Chip dealer groups and Contract Hire companies, including the Quicks Group, Cowie Interleasing and ACL.

Hankey has an extensive knowledge of the used vehicle industry from a range of perspectives and has unrivalled experience in managing corporate customer portfolios and developing new business initiatives in the remarketing sector.

He is one of BCA’s most experienced speakers and represents the company on the working committees for the BVRLA, the Society of Motor Auctions and the Vehicle Remarketing Association and chairs BCA’s LCV Customer Forum.

Peter Cooke is arguably one of the best known business school academics in the United Kingdom focusing on the automotive industries. He spent twenty years in the automotive industries, many of them in fleet, before moving to the business school world some twenty years ago.

Cooke was appointed to the University of Buckingham in 2007, where he has established a new Centre for Automotive Management providing training and education programmes for the industry as well as research, publications and consultancy services.

Professor Cooke is the author of a number of books on fleet and fleet management that have been published in English, Polish and Russian. He has written numerous reports and studies on the development of fleet in the UK, Europe and wider afield.

He has worked, lectured and consulted in more than fifty countries and writes regularly in the fleet management press in a number of countries.

Dr Andrew Tongue is a director of ICDP, and manages the programme's global network of researchers and projects. In May 2000, he was appointed to the main board of ICDP.

He has over 12 years experience in the car industry, having completed a Doctoral study at the University of Bath into the evolution of distribution chain structures in the European car market, and leads ICDP's public policy work, advising sponsors and other key industry actors on developments in the legislative environment governing the selling, marketing and use of vehicles at the national and pan-European levels, with the Block Exemption a current major focus of attention.

Passionate about early motoring and motorsport in particular, he enjoys running a collection of vintage and classic cars.

Chris Mason is managing director of Motor Codes – the government-backed self-regulatory body for the automotive industry.

With a wealth of experience in consumer affairs and regulation, combined with a successful career working in franchised and independent garages, Chris has spent the last ten years steering the development of the Motor Industry Codes of Practice in new car sales, service and repair and vehicle warranty products – building a support network for garages and motorists.

Simon Bowkett started his professional career in motor vehicle sales in Australia. 

He moved to the UK in 1995 to broaden his experience. Outperforming peers many years his senior, he was rapidly promoted into Sales Management. After a period of successful senior management, he moved into training, where clients requested him by name above others.

He saw a gap in the market for trainers who could bring ‘the real world’ into training, and in 2000 formed Symco Training to build a team of trainers and consultants who could bring practical experience and proven success to their training methods. Simon says ‘There’s no place for customer-shy trainers in Symco’.

Symco Training has:
 Delivered sales and motivational training to a wide variety of Automotive clients in the UK and Republic of Ireland and Australia.
 Through a partnership with US Company MarKee Group, developed a comprehensive on-line sales and motivational management training programme.
 Provided training to over 6000 dealers through their partnership with AM-online.
 Created Management Development Programmes for Automotive Managers of all disciplines to aid internal human resources, succession planning and consistently high corporate performance.
 Developed specialist programmes including Financial & Business Awareness to hone the business skills of senior managers.
 Developed other brands and product lines through Symco’s subsidiary “Completely Satisfied”.

Simon believes the key to successful management is organisation and motivation of yourself and others. His study of theories of human behaviour along with his own practical experience has enabled him to analyse what makes successful management and, crucially, how to inspire others.

Eric Stone joined the WMS Group as Business Development Director in 2005 with the objective of helping to sustain the company growth.

Eric’s career in the car warranty industry started in 1984 with Motor Plan as a field sales representative where he spent three years learning the business working with car dealerships of varying sizes. He then moved into the financial services sector joining the TSB bank providing financial advice to their customers in three London branches.

In 1997 Eric joined the RAC heading up the national sales team offering warranties for cars and motorcycles and remained with the company until the brand was sold on licence. He then joined the Aon warranty group as Sales Director.

Eric has been instrumental in the recent launch of the latest WMS product ‘Safe&Sound’, an innovative new product for the used car sector designed to offer their customers complete peace of mind when making the important decision to buy a used car. Personally endorsed by Sir Stirling Moss OBE, this product has been very well received by the motor trade with an ever increasing network of dealerships joining the scheme.