Winner: Sam Ward, Vansdirect
Pictured above
Sam Ward, the managing director of Vansdirect, accepts the Women in Broking Award from Duncan Green of award sponsor Drivalia.
About the winner
The Woman in Broking award, judged by the Broker News editorial team, is designed to raise awareness of the brilliant women we have within the broker world.
Like many of the women interviewed for the Women In Broking series, Sam had not planned on a career in automotive. However, her first job at the AA back in 2001 started something. Sam joined Vansdirect in 2016 as a part time training co-ordinator, progressing quickly through the business and was recently appointed managing director.
What made Sam Ward the winner of our Women in Broking Award?
The Broker News team felt that Sam stood out in a very strong category. Sam clearly has an impressive career history – but it wasn’t just about what she’s done, but how she’s done it.
Sam’s story is impressive. Not only has she progressed to a very senior position in a short space of time but the way she does business is exceptional. An outstanding winner of Woman in Broking 2023.
Sam stood out for demonstrating excellence across a number of key areas: 
Impressive career trajectory The Broker News team was impressed with Sam’s career progression from her first part time role through to running Vansdirect in just six years.
Sam has clearly embraced every opportunity along the way – holding roles including compliance, business support manager and operations director before taking on the managing director position last year.
A true advocate for the industry Sam’s passion for broking (and of course vans) is evident. The Broker News team remarked on Sam’s consummate professionalism and drive to encourage more women into the sector, as well as her balanced perspective on work-life equilibrium. On working in automotive, Sam explained:
‘Automotive is a brilliant sector to work in, there really is a role to suit everyone. What I love is that the industry offers continuous change and real variety. No week is ever the same.’
People first approach The Broker News team described Sam as ‘clearly a people person’, noting her supportive approach across both her team and external network.
Sam is also supporting the equality agenda and is proud to have strong female representation within her Vansdirect management team.
I am absolutely delighted to be recognised amongst such a strong category of amazing women and even more so to win. There is a huge focus on increasing the number of women in our industry and awards such as this play a huge part. I absolutely love working in this industry and am extremely fortunate to be surrounded by a team of supportive women and men.
Winner profiles in association with Leasing.com
Leasing.com invented car leasing comparison in the UK and for the last 23 years has been helping leasing brokers to promote their offers to consumers and businesses in order to generate high-quality leads and happy customers.
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Laura is a writer and Head of Marketing for Broker News, with extensive automotive experience from senior marketing roles with RBS/Nat West, Lombard Vehicle Management and Unipart. She is also a self-confessed petrol-head.
