John Pryor to resign from ACFO as he retires from fleet industry

ACFO director and chairman John Pryor is to stand down from the fleet association as he nears retirement from his job as fleet and travel manager at fashion group Arcadia Group.

Pryor will officially stand down from the ACFO board at the 2019 AGM, which will be held on 12 June. He has served on the board since 2006 and was re-elected at last year’s AGM to serve a further three-year term.

The chairman of ACFO is elected annually and Pryor has held the post since 2014. He has been an ACFO member through Arcadia Group since 1993.

Pryor’s decision to resign from the ACFO board and Phil Redman’s decision to retire as an ACFO director at the end of 2018 means the organisation is seeking two new directors to be elected to the board at the AGM. Stewart Lightbody, head of fleet services at Anglian Water, was co-opted on to the board to replace Mr Redman.

ACFO has a six-strong board which is completed by present deputy chairman Caroline Sandall, director ESE UK Consulting and a former fleet manager at Barclays Bank; Debbie Floyde, group fleet and risk and facilities manager, Bauer Media; Denise Lane, head of group fleet at Capita; and Richard Baird, new business development director at Marshall Leasing. By three-yearly rotation, Mr Baird is due to stand for re-election to the board at the 2019 AGM.

Pryor said it was with “great sadness” that he was standing down from the board and chairmanship of ACFO, but added: “I am taking retirement from Arcadia after 30 years so will no longer be involved on a daily basis in the world of fleet operations or the growing strength of mobility. It therefore seemed to me to be inappropriate to continue as both a director and chairman.”

He continued: “There is so much changing in our industry that a body like ACFO, which changes and adapts, is needed more than ever.

“Fleet management is changing at a pace never seen before and the arrival of Mobility-as-a-Service, ‘big data’ and vehicle connectivity, plug-in vehicles and the eventual arrival of autonomous vehicles deliver new challenges for fleet managers to embrace in addition to established, but ever-changing ones, around taxation and legislation.

“Therefore, I believe that ACFO requires its chairman and directors to be actively involved in fleet on a full-time basis both to promote the organisation and its members’ views and promote fleet management as an industry and a career.”