A broader responsibility at each stage of the journey

Mandate

Align employer commitments, passenger service and the financing of fleet capability.

Outcomes

• Agreed funded shuttle changes at four factory sites.
• Staged electric-bus deployment after a twelve-vehicle pilot.
• Split a forty-eight-bus renewal between ownership and leasing.

Decisions in context

The CEO role made me accountable for the relationship between the service promise and the resources committed across the company. I joined the board as an executive director in January 2020 and worked with seven senior colleagues under a non-executive chair. The four-site contract change, electric-bus pilot and mixed fleet renewal required different specialist evidence, but each depended on a clear company decision. I brought my financial and commercial experience to those choices while relying on qualified operating and technical leaders for their responsibilities. My remit was not to approve a route’s engineering details personally. It was to ensure that the business understood the commitment, funded it appropriately and explained the consequences to the board. The appointment also required me to support leaders who could make decisions without referring every service exception to the chief executive.

Reason for the move

Succeeded the retiring CEO after five years leading commercial relationships.

Mandate

Develop employer relationships and agree service commitments the operation could deliver.

Outcomes

• Led twenty-three account and bid colleagues.
• Managed commercial responsibility for a RMB151m contract portfolio.
• Brought shift-change assumptions into renewal discussions.

Decisions in context

Commercial leadership brought me closer to the employer’s reasons for buying transport. A predictable price and a clear schedule mattered, but the contract also had to survive changes in shifts, sites and employee travel patterns. I worked with operating colleagues on the assumptions behind proposals and with account managers on how to explain a change before it became a disagreement. My portfolio responsibility was not the same as authority over the company’s entire revenue or fleet. I reported to the CEO and brought major commitments through the agreed approval route. I presented renewal choices to the board when invited, without holding a director seat in this period. The appointment prepared me for the CEO role by showing how a commercial promise creates work for people who were not present when the promise was first discussed.

Reason for the move

Selected as CEO through the board’s succession process.

Mandate

Procure fleet and support arrangements against an approved operating requirement.

Outcomes

• Led eight procurement and supplier-support colleagues.
• Delivered an approved RMB42m procurement programme.
• Documented service-support differences alongside vehicle price comparisons.

Decisions in context

Procurement required me to turn financial comparisons into commitments with suppliers. I worked with operating colleagues to understand the vehicle specification, maintenance support and delivery timing before discussing price. A similar purchase price could conceal different requirements after the vehicle entered service, so I wanted the recommendation to explain those differences. I led eight colleagues and operated within an approved programme; major capital approval remained with the company’s leadership. The role taught me to distinguish negotiating an attractive offer from selecting an arrangement that suited the service. I also learnt to preserve the reasoning behind a decision so that maintenance and operating teams could understand it later. That experience became valuable when I moved into employer contracts, where the company was itself the supplier being asked to make a promise about future performance.

Reason for the move

Moved to Yunravelle for broader commercial and customer responsibility.

Mandate

Explain the cash commitments and terms of vehicle ownership and leasing options.

Outcomes

• Managed three analysts.
• Prepared vehicle funding comparisons for executive approval.
• Separated initial cash requirements from recurring commitments.

Decisions in context

Fleet finance gave me a practical education in the difference between payment timing and economic cost. I prepared ownership and leasing comparisons and worked with operating colleagues on expected vehicle use. The carrying value of the fleet described the assets in the accounts; it was not a budget I could spend or a measure of my personal approval authority. I managed three analysts and reported to the financial controller, with funding decisions taken through the company’s approval process. I became more careful about the assumptions in a comparison, including the service period and the obligations remaining if a customer changed its requirement. A concise recommendation still needed to show those conditions. The role taught me to make a financial choice understandable to a decision-maker without hiding the uncertainty that could change its consequences later.

Reason for the move

Promoted into fleet procurement with supplier and team responsibility.

Mandate

Connect proposed routes and schedules with their operating-resource estimates.

Outcomes

• Prepared estimates for employer-service proposals.
• Worked with dispatch colleagues on waiting and return journeys.
• Maintained cost assumptions for manager review.

Decisions in context

I entered transport through an office role but quickly found that the figures could not be understood entirely from the office. A proposal described the route a customer wanted to buy, while dispatch colleagues could explain the waiting, return and maintenance arrangements needed to operate it. I prepared estimates under a costing manager and had no authority to approve spending or accept a contract. My contribution was to make the assumptions visible enough for others to review. I learnt to ask a practical question before adjusting a spreadsheet: what work would still have to happen if the estimate left it out? That habit developed through discussions with experienced operating colleagues rather than through a single analytical technique. It gave me a foundation for later finance and commercial roles in which the same distinction appeared at a larger scale.

Reason for the move

Promoted to fleet finance after five years of costing experience.