THE MOTOR OMBUDSMAN - Key Persons
Alex graduated in law, and went on to complete the Legal Practice Course and a Masters degree with BPP University. Prior to joining The Motor Ombudsman, Alex worked as a Consumer Law Arbitrator, where he made decisions on a wide variety of cases, ranging from utility disputes to faulty goods and unfair contracts.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
- Member of the TMO Team
- Managing Director, Chief Ombudsman
Bill has worked in the motor industry for almost three decades, and has held senior roles at JLR, BMW and Rover, amongst other vehicle manufacturers. Bill has a first class reputation of enhancing consumer satisfaction. His knowledge and experience of the issues surrounding the sector bring invaluable industry insight and expertise to The Motor Ombudsman.
Job Titles:
- Dispute Resolution Manager
Charles Woodgate graduated in Law with honours, and is currently completing the legal practice course and a Masters with the University of Law. He has over half a decade of dispute resolution experience within the motor industry, and has previously worked with local bureaux and Citizens Advice. Charles has worked with the Motor Ombudsman as an adjudicator, as well as going on to manage our dispute resolution teams for a number of years. He also sits on a number of working groups and panels focused on both dispute resolution, consumer rights and motor industry-specific topics.
Job Titles:
- Member of the TMO Team
- Head of Customer Service and Dispute Resolution
Colin has over 15 years' experience in senior management, acting as a department head across a range of industries, including at Ofcom. With a passion for people management, continual improvement and process re-engineering, his role within the senior management team is to enable the successful delivery of The Motor Ombudsman's five-year business plan, through engagement of people and excellent customer service.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
- Non - Executive Director
Frances is a member of the Legal Services consumer panel, a former member of the Financial Services Authority consumer panel, vice chair of the Brighton and Hove Citizens Advice Bureau and a policy adviser to the training organisation, Developing Youth Practice. She is a member of the Finance and Leasing Association's Lending Code Group. Frances has worked for the National Consumer Council as Head of Policy Research and Development, the National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux as a specialist support officer and local authorities where she has managed consumer advice services. She chaired Consumer Congress and the Institute of Consumer Affairs and has represented consumers on government working groups.
Greg holds a law degree from the University of Liverpool, and initially joined a firm of solicitors before his introduction to the ADR sector. Since making the move to dispute resolution, Greg has dealt with a mixture of complex cases across a number of sectors, and has managed teams of case assessors and investigators to improve their decision making. Most recently, Greg worked in the transport sector within the Civil Service. Specifically, he worked to challenge the perception that complaints should be seen simply as a cost of doing business, instead of being a great opportunity for organisations to learn directly from their customers.
Izabel completed her undergraduate degree in history at Queen Mary University of London. She then went on to study the Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL) before working as a case administrator at The Motor Ombudsman. Izabel trained with the Society of Mediators in 2023.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
- Chief Executive of the Society
Mike became Chief Executive of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) in September 2013. He has more than 20 years of experience in policy and public affairs, the majority of which has been spent in the motor industry. He joined the SMMT from Bentley Motors where he held a number of PR, corporate and public affairs roles.
Prior to that, he also worked for both Toyota and Bentley's parent company, Volkswagen AG, where he developed the European and global knowledge needed for this challenging role.
Job Titles:
- Chairman of the Board of Directors
Ron joined the Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI) as its CEO in February 2002. His professional background is in trading standards and local government with broad experience in local authorities and in UK, EU and international regulation of trading standards and associated consumer protection issues. He has also previously held the position of Chair of the Independent Compliance Assessment Panel (ICAP), and has been a Vice President of CTSI since 2013.
After graduating with a degree in economics, Roy embarked on a career in financial services. After a number of different roles, Roy settled on a career in complaints handling investigating disputes about pensions and investments. Roy went on to work at the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) for over twenty years. During this time, Roy issued many decisions involving high value and complex pensions and investment complaints.
After graduating with a law degree from the University of Sussex in 2015, Sadie went on to investigate and resolve disputes within financial services. She spent four years at the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS), initially as an adjudicator, and then as an investigator. She resolved disputes in several different financial areas, including insurance, mortgages, pensions and investments. Sadie then continued resolving disputes and issuing final stage appeals at the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) prior to joining The Motor Ombudsman in her current position.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
- Secretary
- Solicitor
Seftton is a practising solicitor, with over 20 years' experience of commercial and consumer issues across the automotive sector. He has served on the board since 2008, previously responsible for the consumer affairs team that administered the earlier Office of Fair Trading codes that evolved from the Motor Industry Code of Practice, into today's Ombudsman service. Seftton has also served as Director and Secretary on the main board of the parent company SMMT Ltd, since 2000, and is currently SMMT's Operations Director.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
- Non - Executive Director
Simon has worked in various Commercial and Senior Management roles in a range of industries for the past 32 years. His career started as a marine broker in Lloyds of London, and he went on to hold a number of roles in the Insurance and Risk Management sector, where he was latterly a Director of Aon Risk Services. He was co-founder of a successful software business in the Aerospace sector which was recently acquired by an international Avionics supplier. Simon has also served as Committee Member on Corporate Governance boards and Operational Review boards. Simon currently holds several Non-Executive Director and Business Advisor roles across a number of industries and is also Trustee and Chair of Trustees to a number of charities.
Job Titles:
- Member of the TMO Team
- Head of Business Services and Engagement
Sureyya brings over 15 years' experience in the trade association sector with significant experience of managing relationships with senior stakeholders in government and at board level within the private sector. Her role as part of the senior management team is to assist and advise the Chief Ombudsman and Managing Director, Bill Fennell. She is responsible for developing the organisation through supporting the growth and retention of businesses accredited to The Motor Ombudsman.
Job Titles:
- Marketing Manager
- Member of the TMO Team
Vanessa has extensive experience of working within marketing, insight and performance teams. Before joining the company in 2014 she worked for The University of Law in a variety of roles, including the position of Marketing Manager. She also holds an MSc in Management and Business Research Methods.