Annette Whitworth and Andrew Sweeney have been promoted to head of regional accounts and head of key accounts at Car Benefit Solutions (CBS).

With the new promotions both now sit on the CBS management board, which is responsible for the day-to-day running of the company.

Whitworth was formerly operations manager - regional accounts and business development and Sweeney was operations manager - key accounts.

Combined they have more than 40 years’ experience in the automotive industry, and having worked in dealerships previously in their careers, are ideally placed to represent the dealer customers, said CBS.

Paul Taylor, managing director at CBS, said: “The CBS management board looks forward to seeing them embed into their new roles with the drive and commitment they have consistently demonstrated during their time with CBS to date.”

Whitworth said: “The new role requires more of a strategic, holistic and longer-term approach, looking forward to the next 3-5 years to continually seek improvements across the wider business, by adapting, evolving and broadening the scope of our solutions.

“This will ensure we continue to support and really add value to our customers, whilst aiding us in achieving our company vision and long-term goals.”

Both Whitworth and Sweeney will continue to report into MD, Paul Taylor.

Sweeney added: “We anticipate that with the move towards an agency retail model for some manufacturers, we will see a shift in dealer group operations, employee role profile and subsequently the approach toward traditional company car entitlement and provision.

“We look forward to supporting groups morph towards a broader and more harmonised benefit provision for all employee communities. The deployment of our ever-widening spectrum of technical solutions will ensure that each solution is tailored to meet the needs of our dealer group customers.”

Alphera Financial Services has appointed former BMW Motorrad Financial Services and MINI Financial Services regional manager Daniel Temple as its head of sales development.

MotoNovo Finance has launched a new network to support dealer and broker partners in increasing female representation at all levels across motor retailing.