Neil Cunningham has taken over as the new chairman of the BVRLA, replacing LeasePlan’s Kevin McNally, who completes his two-year term.

Currently general manger of Hertz UK, Cunningham has more than 25-years’ experience of the rental industry in Europe and the UK, working with cars and commercial vehicles.

He has already identified some of the areas he wants the association to focus on: “We must continue to lobby the Government and its motoring agencies to reduce the amount of bureaucracy and paperwork associated with owning and operating fleets.

“I am also keen that we build on our relationships with manufacturers. There have been some tensions in recent times, but we can work through these and develop a longer-term, proactive relationship between our two industries.”

New leasing chairman

Hitachi Capital Vehicle Solution’s Simon Oliphant will also become the new chairman of the Leasing and Fleet Management Committee. David Brennan of LeasePlan becomes vice-chairman after completing his two-year term.

Oliphant believes that the biggest challenges facing the sector are; the cost and availability of funding; proposed lease accounting changes; and the fleet adoption of electric and alternatively-fuelled vehicles.

New leasing broker chairman

Mike Lloyd of Central Contracts has completed his two-year term and steps down as chairman of the Leasing Broker Committee, handing over to Martin Brown of Fleet Alliance.

Brown said his committee’s principal aims would be enhancing the visibility of the leasing broker sector and ensuring that it has a robust relationship with manufacturers and funders.