Business Management Team
apd business management was founded upon a solid bedrock of Business Management expertise. Our senior management team has a combined experience of over 125 years, working within manufacturer and dealer environments focusing on all matters relating to:
- Dealer profitability
- Financial management
- Funds management
- Dealer development
- Dealer viability
Derek Knight - Managing Director
Derek entered the motor industry in 1976, working in the contract hire industry before joining Renault UK as a Regional Fleet Consultant.
His 10 years at Renault provided a wealth of experience of the operational running of a dealership through working as a Zone Sales Manager and other “hands on” roles, finally returning to his roots in accountancy when he took on the role of National Franchising Manager. This role involved the restructure of the entire dealer network, recruitment and setting up an average of 20 new businesses each year.
After leaving Renault, Derek joined the much-respected Mitac organisation, later acquired by R L Polk, firstly as a Business Management Consultant providing dealership financial management training and consultancy services to OEMs and their dealer networks.
He was latterly Director, Business Management Services, responsible for the growth of the company’s composite, business planning and training and consultancy businesses.
Together with Paul Turner, Derek founded apd business management following the withdrawal of R L Polk from the Business Management area of their business.
email: derekknight@apd-bm.com
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Paul Turner - Director
Since the MBO, Paul has worked closely with major independent and manufacturer leasing companies to continue development of the leading customer satisfaction and sector intelligence research programmes such as Landmark CSI, fleetrax, brandtrax, and the award-winning 360osi programme.
During this time, Paul, with fellow Directors, has also overseen the growth of apd group into one of the major providers of business management, dealer composite, consultancy and training to major car, truck and motorcycle OEMs.
Paul's experience and knowledge of the whole automotive industry, but, in particular, the contract hire and leasing sector is unique.
email: paulturner@apd-bm.com
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Barry has over 10 years’ experience in project managing the development of global composite systems across multiple international automotive manufacturers. Development encompasses a wide range of disciplines from total system design and construction through to individual, bespoke report customizations. Working with colleagues and clients alike, Barry’s in-depth understanding of the technical and commercial requirements of the composite process continues to prove invaluable in the Business Management division of apd.
Initially from an accounting background, the majority of Barry’s career has been spent working within automotive consultancies in the Business Management field and he has been the leading figure in numerous composite system platform migrations and developments.
Barry’s role in apd is to manage the development of our products to ensure that apd develops and delivers market-leading Business Management products and services to all our clients.
email: barrycrisp@apd-bm.com
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Brian Green – Head of Training and Consultancy
Brian has over 30 years experience in the motor trade, 18 of which have been spent in Business Management in different positions, with first hand experience of working for OEMs including Peugeot and FIAT. During his time with OEMs, Brian spent 7 years dedicated to Business Management, including dealer viability plans, new dealer appointments and the development of composites.
Brian gained much relevant experience of dealing with senior management within the motor trade in his latter position of Regional Director at Peugeot for 6 years in the North of England.
On the retail side, further operational experience was accumulated as Operations Manager controlling a retail motor group in the north west, following which Brian moved into consultancy, where he has spent 11 years dedicated solely to Business Management consultancy and training including Oslo Ford, Nissan Dealer Development, Jaguar Overseas Training, business development workshops and Business Management training.
Brian brings this wealth of experience to apd, where it is put to use working with our OEM composite clients and their dealers to get behind the numbers and make real performance improvement.
email: briangreen@apd-bm.com
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Nick Gane – Head of Planning Services
Nick has been involved in the financial accounting area of the motor industry for more than twenty years at dealer, OEM and service/consultancy level.
His roles have included Ford Main Dealer Accountant, Business Management Advisor with Citroen UK and Product Manager with responsibility for developing, marketing, training and supporting business planning products across a number of automotive franchises.
Nick’s “grass roots” experience means that results are gained through having a sound proactive commercial approach with a full understanding of business accounting and business management within the automotive industry environment.
He is a highly organized, highly motivated individual who is able to demonstrate total commitment, energy and enthusiasm in all aspects of business management, by using in-depth knowledge and experience gained in a commercial environment.
As Head of Planning Services, Nick’s key responsibility at apd is the development and successful implementation through both training and consultancy of our range of business planning tools, ViabilityViewer, and ProfitPlanner software.
Like us all at apd, Nick loves to get involved with our clients working globally on the many and varied dealer development projects.
email: nickgane@apd-bm.com
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David Moore – Head of Commercial Services
David has been associated with the motor trade since leaving school initially serving his apprenticeship and moving through departments in a managerial capacity before becoming a general manager at the age of 28. During his career he has worked with several franchises successfully running single companies and small groups for both private and public companies, towards the later stages for Swan National & the Lex Motor Group.
Ten years ago David joined Mitac and more recently Polk working with manufacturers on dealer performance improvement programmes, business planning and viability studies, composite development and implementation programmes throughout Europe and the Far East. running composite services for numerous manufacturers, which include dealer development programmes in all areas of the business,
In his apd role of Head of Commercial Services, David makes sure that beyond the many mathematical validation checks our data goes through, everything makes absolute commercial sense. David then puts all this to use to work with our clients further enhancing operational improvement.
email: davidmoore@apd-bm.com
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John Sturrock – Business Planning Manager
John’s career began in the Aftersales arena within a number of Franchise dealers, where over the years he has held various positions up to and including Aftersales Manager responsible for a multi-million pound turnover business.
The skills gained in Aftersales made John an ideal candidate for his step into the OEM world where he joined Renault UK as an Area Manager, covering South Wales. This was also where he first met Derek Knight, Managing Director of apd business management.
An opportunity then presented itself when John was approached to become Dealer Principal of a start-up Renault Dealer (part of a Group) where he successfully developed all aspects of the business, concentrating mainly on sales.
In 1997 John joined the highly respected Mitac Organisation, later acquired by R L Polk, as a Consultant where he once again met Derek Knight (as well as Paul Turner and in later years other now apd staff). Here John worked with a number of Prestige and volume brands predominantly in the UK, but also in Europe and Asia, delivering change management and coaching programmes to improve dealer and network profitability.
Now working as a Business Planning Manager within apd, John is working closely with dealers to formulate their short and mid-term business plans, and possibly more importantly drawing on his vast skills and knowledge of the industry to develop improved operational processes to help them achieve their goals.
email: johnsturrock@apd-bm.com
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Jonno Francis – Production Manager
With a background in economics and accounting, Jonno has spent a number of years gaining experience in both general accounting and financial composites. Much of this time was spent as a Management Information Analyst working within the Mitac Business Management department, where he gained strong and invaluable experience in managing and developing composite systems for a number of international automotive clients.
Jonno contributes greatly to the innovative and creative philosophy which is core to apd. His approach is to apply an analytical mind, with meticulous attention to detail, in order to exceed clients’ needs in delivering market-leading Business Management products and services.
Jonno’s role includes project managing the initial and on-going development of composite systems, managing every aspect of the composite production and publication process, ensuring consistent, timely and accurate delivery to all our clients. Jonno is also actively involved in the design and specification of new apd products across the group.
email: jonnofrancis@apd-bm.com
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Mark Taylor AFCA – Network Development
Mark is a qualified accountant with extensive hands-on practical business management experience in restructuring European retail networks.
He was manager Retail Services for Ford Credit in the mid-eighties. Mark was then head-hunted to a five-location Ford retail group, responsible for all financial operations. Part of his role was the installation of a new Dealer Management System and a modern HR process.
During the early nineties, Mark was Renault UK Business Management and Franchise Manager, Southern England. He established a new London representation plan incorporating company owned and independent retailers. During the recession he managed numerous dealer rescues, MBO's, MBI's and takeovers.
By the mid-nineties, Mark had returned to Ford as Business Management Manager for Ford of Europe, responsible for 21 markets. He lifted the overall profile of the importance of retailer viability and managed the development and launch of a new Pan European Business Management Reporting System.
In the late nineties and post-millennium, Mark managed his own business management consultancy, supplying franchise and business management expertise to international manufacturers, banks and retailers.
email: marktaylor@apd-bm.com
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Matthew Tydeman – Data Analyst
Matthew brings to apd 7 years of Customer Services experience within a number of business sectors (both commercial and financial).
Matthew has spent the 4 years, prior to joining apd, gaining experience in report writing and analysis within a large multi-national production and distribution organisation. This experience contributes considerably to his day to day production and support responsibilities as well as providing the scope to contribute towards the design and structure of new and existing apd products. Being highly customer focused Matthew is always looking to provide the best support experience both for clients and dealers.
Matthew’s role includes composite support, production and publication for our automotive clients, ensuring timely and accurate delivery. Working with the commercial and development team, he provides front line contact for apd-bm, offering experienced support to our clients and their dealer networks. Matthew is also the main point of contact for ProfitPlanner support, working closely with the Business Planning team to provide an efficient and proactive troubleshooting and development service.
email: matthewtydeman@apd-bm.com
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Daniel Williams – Product Manager
Daniel brings to apd over 11 years of experience from the Customer Services industry, with his main experience coming from quality assessment and training within this sector.
Daniel has extensive experience of data analysis and report writing, and has a strong background in conforming to client-led criteria. Daniel has a very customer- and client-oriented focus and is always keen to develop relationships further.
The production and development of the Landmark Customer Satisfaction Surveys provided the background to his role at apd, along with a wide range of other bespoke web-centric surveys, customer research and analysis, actively developing the report templates and processes to continually improve and automate the production process.
Daniel’s role purpose within apd is the management and maintenance of the range of 360osi products across many different global clients. Daniel manages all bespoke developments of the 360osi systems from conception to fruition, and is responsible for continually evolving the 360osi systems with updated features, ensuring the 360osi products remain unrivalled at the forefront of all customer satisfaction index systems.
email: danielwilliams@apd-bm.com
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In his 28 years in the automotive sector, Paul has gained experience within the franchise network and with vehicle manufacturers. Until the formation of apd, Paul spent ten years with Mitac, one of Europe’s largest and much respected consultancy companies. After Mitac became part of R.L Polk in 2001, Paul completed a management buy-out of their leasing sector research division to form alchemy performance development ltd (apd) in 2003.Barry Crisp – Head of Operations