Peter Cakebread, managing director of Marshall Leasing, is to retire from the business at the end of April 2021 after 30 successful years leading the business.

Peter Cakebread

Peter joined the business in November 1990 and has since been instrumental in establishing Marshall Leasing as a highly successful and widely known leasing business. This includes helping to integrate it within the Bank of Ireland UK following the December 2017 acquisition by Northridge Finance.

Jonathan Ross, sales and marketing director at Marshall Leasing, said: “Which came first, Marshall Leasing or Peter? The two are so interlinked.

“Like many innovative businesses, the personality of its leader is hugely influential, not only within its culture, but also on its results.

“Marshall Leasing has always enjoyed a high-profile stature within the contract hire fleet industry. This is, in no small measure, down to the reputation and influence of its leader within industry circles.

“I know that shareholders past and present, customers and colleagues both in house and out, will all pay tribute to Peter and want to join him in celebrating his truly successful career.

“We will all miss him deeply but wish him the happiest and most richly deserved retirement spent with his wife Jane.”

Speaking of his work, Peter Cakebread said: “Marshall Leasing has been my passion and through my involvement with the BVRLA, including a two-year stint as chairman, I have contributed to the development of the industry I love.

“At Marshall Leasing, our approach to business has been to offer flexibility in the delivery of our services, based around a ‘common sense ethos’. This has proved to be attractive to a wide range of clients, many of whom have become friends over the years.

“We have benefited from industry leading levels of staff retention, with colleagues genuinely enjoying our family-style work environment rooted in our Marshall of Cambridge heritage. This is my proudest achievement – creating a genuine customer centric culture, in which teams can thrive.

“More recently, I have overseen the exchange in ownership of our business from Marshall Motor Group to the Bank of Ireland’s Northridge Finance. This has been helped enormously by a shared customer-focused strategy and by the tireless support provided by the Northridge team.

“I have truly been blessed to spend my career with great people, in an intellectually stimulating industry and one in which I have enjoyed a lot of fun, alongside the success. Now seems an appropriate time for me to retire and hand over the reins to the next generation. The business is strong, growing and well-structured to meet the challenges of the next stage in its evolution. I am leaving with a great many fantastic memories, and enduring friendships.”