Pitching from Centre-back to Commercial Director, CBVC’s Michelle George

What route did you take to get to your current role?

I started out studying accounting at college, but a part-time retail job at Dorothy Perkins aged 16 changed that! I began to do more hours and worked my way up to Branch Manager. I was earning good money and enjoyed it. That first job made me realise accounting wasn’t for me and I left it behind.

I switched from retail to financial services, starting at The Co‑operative Bank in customer services. I then moved to Legal & General as a Financial Consultant, progressing into a Partnerships Manager role. That led to a home insurance position at LV = (Liverpool Victoria) which gave me the opportunity to join its startup ElectriX Vehicle Leasing as Strategic Partnership Manager. CBVC Vehicle Management was fulfilling the scheme, and that opened the door to my current role as Commercial Director for CBVC.

 What drove you to a career in the automotive industry?

I could have stayed in insurance at LV= but I chose to make the move to ElectriX because automotive seemed more exciting – and I was right! There is always something new in this industry, it’s really fast paced, agile and innovative and you have to move fast.

What does a typical day look like in your role?

The morning usually starts with a sales team catch-up, then I might be speaking to business contacts and customers, setting up salary sacrifice scheme launches or overseeing our marketing campaigns. It’s a broad role! I’m often out travelling too – that could be partner site visits, vehicle launches or client meetings. Relationships are absolutely key in this role, so being out and about is important.

We’ve recently trialled a new hybrid working model so the sales team typically work from home three days a week. The mix of home and office working fits CBVC’s values – it gives our team more flexibility and helps us attract more of the right talent.

What’s it like working at CBVC?

CBVC has a really positive culture – it’s agile, fun and innovative. The business is also very customer-focused which means we have an incredibly loyal customer base, as well as a long-standing employee team.

How are you finding working in broking after a large financial services company?

It’s refreshing – in a smaller, more agile business you can make decisions and get things done fast. I’m able to spend more time with our customers rather than in internal meetings, so it’s definitely more outward focused. Some things, like regulation and compliance, are similar and my financial services background is coming in very useful.

Do you feel that automotive is attractive to women?

I find it really interesting to be a female in this industry – it’s similar to financial services which is also traditionally male-heavy. I’m pleased to see more women coming into the industry and it’s becoming more balanced – plus younger women are coming through which is great. At CBVC, there is a pretty even gender split and in the sales team we actually have more women than men. Having said that, there are still a lot of stereotypes around the automotive industry – when I explain my role to my family, they still initially assume that automotive is all about dealerships.