Executive Board

David Bird
Managing Director

David Bird has unrivaled experience in successful business development and growth within the automotive finance and fleet management sector. In his previous position as chief financial officer at Leasedrive Velo Group Limited, he was responsible for introducing Drive:Manager™, the industry-leading totally integrated online fleet management system which has set new benchmark standards for operational and customer service quality in the industry.

One of the members of the Leasedrive BIMBO transaction team in 2003, David was previously chief operating officer of Shell Auto Finance, where he developed a state-of-the-art fleet management system.

Before joining SAF, David was chief operating officer of the UK's largest fleet management company, Arval PHH. He was responsible for steering the company through a period of dramatic growth, including a major acquisition, before playing a key role in the disposal of the business, first to Avis Rent-A-Car Inc. and then to BNP Paribas.

David has also held senior positions as finance director with Automotive Leasing and financial controller with Leaseplan.

He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, as well as being a member of the Association of Corporate Treasurers.

Roddy Graham
Commercial Director

Roddy Graham, a strategic business professional with extensive experience in the vehicle rental and leasing industry, is commercial director. His responsibilities include implementation of the company's business development programme, sales, marketing, customer services, rental operations and HR. Roddy is also chairman of the Institute of Car Fleet Management.

Prior to joining the Leasedrive BIMBO transaction team Roddy Graham was managing director of Budget Rent a Car UK. Originally appointed as sales and marketing director, he played a key role in the acquisition of two car rental companies.

Later, he led the purchase of seven licensee operations at a time when Budget was pursuing a business strategy of corporate-ownership. Roddy Graham joined Budget from Highway Vehicle Management where he held the position of sales director for six years.

Robert Whitrow
Financial Director

Robert Whitrow is responsible for the financial operations within Leasedrive Velo and has unparalleled operational skills allied to expertise in mergers and acquisitions. In his former position as finance and commercial director at BT Fleet, he was responsible for the strategic evaluation of potentially outsourcing BT Fleet, which BT plc then retained, and subsequently grew to look after over 75,000 vehicles for a range of customers.

He was also involved with the radical restructure of BT Fleet to improve services and efficiencies and moved the business from a pure cost centre to aggressively pursuing profitable third party fleet business, thus reducing costs.

Previously Robert held the position of head of corporate finance at BT plc during which he acted as overall project director for one of the largest ever UK de-mergers, that of mmO2, BT's worldwide wireless business, valued at circa £7bn and preparing Yell as a standalone entity, initially for an IPO but subsequently for an eventual £2.1bn trade sale. He also advised on BT's £5.9bn rights issue in 2001.

Before joining BT, Robert worked in various positions at KPMG between 1985 and 1998, latterly as assistant director with KPMG Corporate Finance.

He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and Fellow of the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment.