Divisional MD - FMG Support

Divisional Managing Director

Corporate Context

One of the fastest growing businesses in West Yorkshire and a Sunday Times Top 100 fast-track buyout company, FMG Support is a major provider of high quality, outsourced critical response and incident resolution services to a wide range of clients throughout the UK. A challenger-brand, it fundamentally differentiates itself through people and culture and is proud to be recognised as a thought and service leader. Having already doubled in size over the last three years – and not content to rest on its laurels – it is now poised to grow dramatically through significant organic development and strategic market diversification.

The company currently has two key business areas: -

Fleet Incident Management – since launching in 1993, FMG Support has quickly established itself as a trusted outsourcer in the Accident Management industry and grown to become the largest independent business of its kind in the UK – providing industry-leading fleet incident management services including 24x7 vehicle incident response, repair management, bespoke communication, claims handling and legal services to clients and a combined fleet of over 250,000 vehicles. The services are provided to customers through most of the largest fleet leasing intermediaries; Lloyds TSB Autolease, LeasePlan, Arval, GE and Masterlease – as well as directly to blue-chip fleets such as Carlsberg, Daily Mail, L’Oreal, Xerox and Royal Mail.

Roadside Repair and Recovery Management – ensures that fleets and loads are kept moving through the deployment of a network of over 1350 independents specialists that attend breakdowns in less than 60 minutes and who currently resolve 80% of all repairs at the roadside. Within this division, there is The National Vehicle Recovery Service (NVRS) – a recently won major outsourcing contract with the Highways Agency to take responsibility for recovering vehicles following abandonment, breakdown or incident on the English strategic road network - 5000 miles of motorways and major A-roads. Newly created, this three year contract will be managed through seven regional Highways Agency Centres in collaboration with police partners, this is the first time that the service has been outsourced and represents a significant milestone for the Agency and FMG Support.

All of the above product and service streams are powered by Ingenium-i
a £3m technology infrastructure underpinning the business - with absolutely industry-leading, on-line real-time information management, it delivers all the incident tracking, tactical analysis, data retrieval and strategic reporting that clients and fleet managers will ever need to make fast, effective and informed decisions.

During the last eighteen months, the business has won two substantial new contracts (Lloyds TSB and The Highways Agency) and secured external funding and support from Spirit Capital – a leading UK growth buyout investor, and significantly strengthened its Board to drive further expansion and value creation with the aim of at least doubling in value by 2011 through a combination of organic growth, strategic diversification and targeted acquisition.

As part of its plan to support key growth ambitions and corporate development objectives, the organisation has recently restructured into strategic business units - creating two centres of excellence: Fleet Incident Management and Roadside Repair & Recovery. This new structure will sharpen operational & commercial focus as well as accelerate business unit-specific organic growth and strategic development plans.

More information will be made available at interview

Overview of Role

Reporting to the Group Managing Director, this newly created, high-profile leadership role will be pivotal to the ongoing development and success of the FIM business area. With full P&L accountability you will be leading an operation of around 250 people through a tiered functional structure managing a major portfolio of incidents and repairs through a comprehensive strategic service partner network.

As this is a newly created division, the first priority will be to strengthen the governance platform with an appropriate division-specific operational infrastructure and comprehensive financial control and business intelligence framework that will enable the leadership team to drive P&L and steer the FIM business area effectively to optimise performance and deliver sustained growth

Once the platform has been strengthened and focused, the business will be looking to drive significant expansion with the aim of doubling turnover in three years. Already the largest player in a highly fragmented industry, there is enormous scope for growth – which is likely to come from a combination of winning new business from insurers, major fleets, leasing intermediaries, manufacturers and aggregators etc along with increased penetration of the wider SME fleet arena.

A key strategic objective is to raise the profile of the FIM business within the fleet industry and reach new markets. Keen to become the absolute supplier-of-choice for outsourced claims management and repair services in the UK - providing credible alternatives to in-house operations – the division needs to be highly entrepreneurial and customer led in order to quickly exploit emerging opportunities in the rapidly evolving outsourced service arena.

In parallel with this activity, the Group is exploring and driving strategic diversification into a number of different but related or compatible markets, which should also create further significant opportunity for growth - both in the UK and potentially internationally. Consequently, the role offers enormous scope for a talented and ambitious business leader to fundamentally shape an operation and make a real impact in the industry. In the current economic climate where potential service outsourcing and strong cost management are critical business factors, the Board is fully supportive in its belief that this is an opportune moment for the FIM business unit to move strategically and decisively in order to secure significant growth in existing and new key markets.

More information will be available at interview

Role Profile

Specific accountabilities will include: -

 Business & people leadership - driving the development and realisation of an exciting and compelling new vision and strategy for the FIM business unit – securing Group Board approval and support – identifying and integrating all areas of mutual operation, commercial interest and business development
 
 Inspiring and energising the division and the team – currently around 250 people – but it is highly possible that this could grow radically when the business wins the next major outsourcing deal!

 Leading the FIM Business team to deliver the new vision and strategy - securing and maintaining effective control and governance, and consistently achieving all pre-agreed revenue and profit targets as well as key operational quality, customer service and employee satisfaction performance indicators.

 Communicating the detailed business plan to all stakeholders and colleagues – constantly monitoring and regularly reporting progress as well as instigating corrective action where necessary

 Leading the technology strategy to really create significant service and commercial advantage – extending systems and processes deeper into the supply chain and harnessing automation and smart technology would bring significant efficiency savings and enhanced business opportunity.

 Developing the strategic service partner network – understanding their strategic business issues and collaborating with them to achieve mutually beneficial outcomes – identifying ways of working better and smarter that delivers advantage for all. Being an advocate for business transparency and a campaigner for a fair, honest and professional fleet industry.

 Working as a key member of the FMG Support Group Board – contributing to wider organisational success – ensuring that divisional and corporate goals, objectives and values and fully aligned and congruent

 Driving corporate and personal profile within key client communities – such as insurers, leasing intermediaries, fleets, vehicle repairers, body-shops, manufacturers, aggregators and other relevant outsourcing sectors – developing and constantly articulating strong and consistent targeted brand messages. Networking and representation of the business at key industry forums and high profile events

 Steering continuous product and service development activity – ensuring that the business is listening to clients and watching the market in order to stay ahead of the trend and have  the right propositions available to exploit opportunities as they emerge

 Maintenance of continuous industry and competitor reviews – constantly benchmarking against the best in the customer service arena to keep the operation at the forefront of its sector
 
 Personally supporting the Group Marketing and Sales and Client Service teams – networking, presenting and catalysing ideas to help identify and capture new business and strategic product development opportunities – both divisionally and across the organisation

 Identifying and evaluating commercial and operational risk – taking corrective action – obtaining Board approval where necessary 

 Actively promoting a culture of customer care – role modelling the company’s values internally and externally – pro-actively encouraging and supporting cross-business working 

 Driving quality and continuous improvement activity – proactive development and execution of business, process and service improvement plans – advising and obtaining Board approval for action as required

Candidate Profile

 An inspirational people leader and networker with commercial vision and energy who is passionate about business and service – must have a fundamental belief in the pursuit of excellence through customer satisfaction and employee engagement

 Highly motivated and one who leads from the front, must have a proven track record of developing business, managing strategic relationships and delivering profits in the highly competitive B2B service arena.

 Background may be in Business Process Outsourcing with exposure to insurance, claims management, critical response or similar business areas

 Proactive and entrepreneurial, will be constantly alert to commercial opportunity, able to spot and quickly exploit situations for business advantage.

 Must have experience of effective governance and business intelligence platforms – driving revenue, cost, margin and operational performance through key metrics and feedback processes. Ensuring that all planning and forecasting activity is robust and reliable in order to deliver expected and sustainable profits.

 An outstanding communicator and facilitator, must have the commercial acumen and relationship management skills to push boundaries, influence and operate at Board level both internally and externally within partner and intermediary client organisations

 Hands-on and pragmatic with a good understanding of the broader service outsourcing business and commercial landscape, you must enjoy working as part of a highly motivated, proactive Group Board and contribute to wider organisational decision making

 A natural team player, will share collective responsibility and strive for successful team outcomes and be willing to adapt to meet changing organisational needs

 Must be ambitious with the tenacity, energy and business maturity to make things happen. Will be attracted to this rare opportunity to shape and deliver the future of a dynamic young sector leader that punches way above its weight. Will have significant development capability – must be seen as a potential successor to the Group Managing Director

Reward

• Highly attractive executive package encompassing: -

 basic salary c£100k - plus
 performance related annual bonus
 fully expensed company car or car allowance
 contributory pension
 BUPA & Critical Illness Cover
 6 months notice period

 relocation assistance (negotiable - if appropriate)

APPLICATIONS

To apply, please send your CV to Kevin Gordon at

response@sterling-selection.com

OR

hit the "apply for position" button