Graham Conway becomes managing director of Select Car Leasing

• Pictured above are Select Car Leasing directors and co-founders Mark Tongue and James O’Malley (right) with new managing director Graham Conway (centre)

GRAHAM Conway is the new managing director of Select Car Leasing.

Conway, who originally joined the Reading broker in 2019 from funder Alphabet, steps up from his current role as general manager. He says that his focus as MD would be to continue driving forward the Select proposition and expanding its presence in the leasing and corporate sector.

“During the pandemic we saw a real opportunity for growth. So we ramped up our Appointed Representatives (AR) proposition so that we now have nine Select Car Leasing locations across the UK. That’s substantial growth at any time, but particularly during a global crisis.

“Now we are in the situation where the leasing of a high value product via e-commerce has been entirely normalised. Everything that everyone has done through the pandemic has been done online. And I believe that actually puts us in a much stronger position coming out the other side of Covid-19.”

Speaking to Broker News, director and co-founder of Select Car Leasing, James O’Malley, told us:

“Graham’s appointment as managing director formalises and recognises a role he has been doing for the last few years and brings the company into line with the structures we have. Both myself and my co-director Mark Tongue are not disappearing though! We’ll still be here.”

Recently Select announced that it had secured the naming rights to Reading FC stadium, a club that both O’Malley and Tongue had supported since they were boys growing up in the area, providing a further indicator of the company’s growth ambitions.

Conway continued that he had recently spent time developing new relationships and new routes to market to meet these growth aspirations.

“I’ve been heavily involved in creating and mobilising our new Select Fleet Solutions brand. We intend to be a real disruptor in the corporate solutions space when it comes to business contract hire, and driving down costs when it comes to running a fleet.

“We’re now in partnership with the likes of ODO, FMG, Masternaut, Allstar and DriveTech and we’ve built a full new fleet proposition that we’re taking to market.

“From a business perspective, we want to make sure firms that operate a fleet of up to 250 vehicles are getting the service they deserve. There’s a real opportunity for us to be able to hold the hand of fleet managers with a modest fleet size.”

He added:

“I’m never satisfied with what I’ve delivered. It’s always about what comes next. What drives me is wanting to effect change and I’ve got the belief I can always do more.”