Name: Nickie Brooks
Job title: Chief compliance officer, Bridle Group
How long in role: Four months on the board and almost five years at Bridle Group
What’s your role? Overall group responsibility for development and monitoring of compliance alongside leading customer experience.
NICKIE Brooks has just celebrated quite the milestone – 40 years in the automotive industry.
Nickie’s automotive career started when she left school to take a gap year ahead of studying law. Her six-month temp job at Lombard North Central became seven years and she quickly progressed from ‘writing cheques all day’ to running the repossession unit for the entire southern region.
A succession of motor trade leadership roles followed Nickie’s stint at Lombard. She held positions including dealer principal for Nissan – at the time she was one of only two women to hold the position in the entire network. Nickie was also a highly successful corporate sales manager for Mitsubishi – although she cites driving the Carisma as a career lowlight.
‘I’ve always been hugely passionate about the motor industry. I fell into it and then fell in love with it! I count it as a sign of how I do business that many of my customers over the years have become personal friends – relationship building is so important in this business. At heart, I’m a salesperson and I get a real buzz from genuine customer delight – nothing can match that.’
In 1999, Nickie had major leg surgery which meant she was home-based for a while. That was when she made the decision to ‘row her own boat’ and set up her brokerage – Alternative Route Finance.
The business goal was to deliver excellent customer service and offer the best possible funding options and manufacturers.
Clearly her approach worked: Nickie ran the business successfully for 18 years and was then approached by Bridle Group to sell. It took her six months to make the decision and she says:
‘I’m hugely proud of what Alternative Route Finance achieved as a business and it was a really tough decision to sell. But ultimately, I decided that the team would benefit from the opportunities offered by a larger business.’
As part of the sale, Nickie was contracted to stay on with Bridle Group for 18 months, after which she intended to exit. But Nickie found herself relishing her new head of compliance role and stayed.
Regulation is an area that Nickie is passionate about and believes it has helped to further raise standards and professionalise the sector.
In February this year, Nickie was appointed to the main Bridle Group board and describes the role as the ‘pinnacle of her career’. She is clearly relishing the position and the ambitious plans the board has for the future.
As for boosting women in the sector, Nickie says there is more to do – even in Bridle where 47% of the workforce is female which is higher than many similar businesses.
She says just 19% of their account managers are females and she wants to see more women in sales and senior positions commenting:
We need to abolish the stereotype that women + sales = retail. I’ve worked with highly successful female account managers in what can still be a male dominated area. I find women are often great listeners, relationship builders and problem solvers – ideal when dealing with tricky subjects like affordability. Some women buyers also prefer dealing with a woman.
For women looking to join the motoring sector, Nickie has this advice:
‘As governor for a girl’s school, I can confirm you won’t find the motor industry on a careers board. We need to bang the drum and make some noise about the achievements and successful careers of women in this business. If you’re looking to get into the sector, I would say just go for it. It’s a rewarding career and I’ve loved every minute of it. I hope we can encourage more women in who will become as passionate as I am!’
About Bridle Vehicle Leasing
Bridle Vehicle Leasing is a national brokerage providing all vehicle makes and models. Using state-of-the-art fleet management technology provides access to the best finance providers, ensuring competitive rates alongside excellent service levels. As a large group of companies, Bridle has strong purchasing power, which enables it to provide excellent value for money for 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.
