ACFO has elected Julie Summerell as its first regional chairman following its shift to operating under a single region.

Julie Summerell, newly elected regional chairman at ACFO.

The fleet decision makers’ organisation announced this autumn that it was introducing the new structure from 1 January 2018 alongside a focus on webinars instead of its twice-a-year regional meetings due to dwindling attendance. The move marks the biggest shake-up of the organisation since it was founded more than 40 years ago.

As announced last night (16 November) at ACFO’s annual awards dinner, Julie Summerell, managing director of fleet services company TR Fleet, was elected to the new role in an ACFO members’ vote while James Pestell, currently secretary of ACFO’s East Anglia Region and national sales manager at IFC Group, was the only nomination for regional secretary so was elected unopposed.

Both will serve in their respective roles for 12 months and will provide a link between the ACFO board and members, with a remit to facilitate and lead the webinars that replace ACFO’s previous regional meetings and could be held more frequently, given demand. The association will also continue to hold its twice-a-year seminars on key issues.

National chairman John Pryor said the new structure was intended to prove popular and less time consuming than travelling to attend regional meetings.

“As a result, we hope the development will act as a springboard to encourage employees with fleet management responsibility to join ACFO and take part in the webinars from their offices. Today’s technology enables fleet operators to interact and discuss key issues without the need to network in person at meetings, simultaneously having a positive environmental impact,” he added.For more of the latest industry news, click here.